Naruto: The Twilight's Dawn
by Draconias
Summary: I have been called many things throughout my life. Demon, Shinobi, Jinchuriki. It doesn't matter what those who wallow in ignorance call me. I fight for what I believe in. Nothing more, nothing less and I refuse to be a tool of the government. I will change this bloody war-torn world. My name is Uzumaki Naruto and this is merely the beginning of my story.
1. Prologue: The Legacy of a Forgotten Clan

"I want to become the greatest Hokage, Dattebayo."- Normal Talking

'_Ugh. I can't believe I actually said that without puking_.'-_ Normal Thoughts_

"_Hey, do I have to keep acting like this, Kyuubi-sensei_?"- Telepathic Conversation

"**If you want to ruin years' worth of planning, go ahead and stop acting like a dumbass you brat**."- Speech of a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

'**_Ugh. I swear, if this brat wasn't my student, I would have devoured him ten times over for having to act like such a_ _fool_**.'- Thoughts of a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

"**_At least your Jinchuriki is sane_**." Telepathic Conversation between Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)"- Technique being used

"**Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)**"- Technique being used by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

'_Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)_'- Technique being subvocalized

'**_Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)_**'- Technique being subvocalized by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

"_Fuin_!" Seal being used

"**_Fuin_**!" Seal being used by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

'_Fuin_!' Seal being subvocalized

'**_Fuin_**!' Seal being subvocalized by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

**Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.**

Enjoy the story.

* * *

**Prologue: The Legacy of a Forgotten Clan**

* * *

(Konohagakure Alleys - 9:00 pm - October 10 - 53 AVF)

A small group of men who absolutely reeked of the scent of alcohol chased a child throughout the alleys of the village that they lived in. The young child appeared to be a five year old boy with spiky blond hair that was matted down with small amounts of blood flowing from a deep cut on his scalp and into his terrified cerulean blue eyes. The young child also had three small whisker like markings on each cheek. He was wearing torn black pants that had ragged edges where they ended around his calf, along with small black sandals on his feet, and small black long-sleeved t-shirt that had the right sleeved torn to shreds to reveal some jagged cuts that went down his arm.

The child continued to run until he found the stairs that lead to the top of the cliff that had four distinct faces carved into the front of the cliff. As the child sped up the steps he didn't notice the men chasing him trip on the stairs and cut themselves on the broken bottles that had previously been filled with the alcohol they had consumed, before being struck with what they considered to be a brilliant idea (to their drunken minds) and get rid of the perceived blight on their village. The broken bottles that the five of them had decided use as weapons stabbed into their bodies and shattered causing the glass to cut each of them even more and they passed out from the pain and began to slowly bleed out.

* * *

(Forest Behind Hokage Mountain - 9:10 pm - October 10 - 53 AVF)

The child continued to run through the forest in fear, unaware that his pursuers had possibly died. The young blond soon arrived at a strange gate that appeared to be guarding nothing but more trees. Desperate for a place to hide and wait out the rest of the night, the child accidentally placed his bloody hand to the gate. The blond yelped before stifling his scream of pain with his left hand. Suddenly the area of the gate that the blond touched, which appeared to be a crimson whirlpool like symbol, glowed a soft pale blue and the sound of tumblers moving resounded quietly throughout the area the gate was stationed. The child watched curiously, his pain slightly forgotten, as the gate let out a near inaudible click and slowly opened to reveal that the forest behind the gate was just an illusion and that the gate was actually connected to a wall with odd symbols and writing carved into its surface. Behind the gate was an elaborate compound that seemed to be falling into disrepair.

The child slowly walked through the open gate and stared at the abandoned compound. As the young boy walked down the main path leading to the house, the gate closed itself silently, unbeknownst to the curious child. He went into the house trying to find a place to sleep away the exhaustion that he began to feel. The young boy, while walking through the hallways of the house, stumbled slightly and, feeling incredibly dizzy from the sudden drop of adrenaline and blood loss, crashed through a hidden door that led to a secret underground chamber. The child bounced down the stairs and landed down on the floor of the chamber where, before he passed out, he saw a strange pedestal that held an incredibly old looking tome on it with words and a symbol carved on the front of the structure that he couldn't make out because of the blood loss making his eyes blurry.

* * *

(Unknown - 9:17 pm - October 10 - 53 AVF)

The young child awoke due to cold water slowly dripping onto his face. The boy slowly stood up being cautious with his right arm until he saw that, for some reason, his shirt, pants, and arm all seemed perfectly fine. He then noticed his odd surroundings and that he was no longer inside the secret chamber, but inside some boiler room/sewer combination. The water that had previously woken him up didn't help the dreary appearance as it created a continuous dripping sound that echoed throughout the dimly lit hallway. Deciding that he wouldn't be able to leave if he didn't figure out where he was exactly, the young boy decided to follow the seemingly endless hallway.

As the young child walked through the hallway, he discovered that some of the pipes that he could see glowed an odd red color that seemed similar to the color on the gate outside of the house he had been in, but others glowed a deep blue color and the fewest glowed a perfect mixture of the two, a deep violet. He decided to follow the pipes since they seemed to lead somewhere.

As the young boy followed the pipes, he began to hear something similar to a large beast's breathing echoing around him. The child saw what appeared to be an opening, the first he had seen in wherever he was, but it gave off a bright light that forced the young boy to cover his eyes as he walked through it.

The child opened his eyes to see that he was in an enormous room that had an incredibly large cage at the end of it. "What is this place?" the young boy questioned quietly. He quickly deduced that the sound of a large beast breathing was coming from the enormous fox that had its head resting on one of its nine tails while it was asleep. What the child wanted to know was how in the world he got into a sewer when he had just been inside an underground chamber.

As the child began to wonder where he was exactly, the Kyuubi began to open its eyes and it was surprised to see a young boy that barely seemed five in front of its cage. "**Why are you here, child?**" the Bijuu asked. The child's head turned to the Kyuubi so fast, that the Bijuu could have sworn it heard the boy's neck crack. "You can talk?" the blond boy whispered incredulously, "No, there's no way, foxes can't talk, but wait they don't usually look as big as that either though." The Bijuu watched amused at the boy arguing with himself about whether or not he was going crazy or if the giant fox really did talk. The Bijuu decided to take pity on him. It decided to let the boy know that, it did indeed have the ability to speak and no, he wasn't going crazy.

"**I can indeed speak child**," the boy looked relieved that he wasn't going crazy, "**Now, answer my question. Why are you here?**" The boy looked irritated for some reason. "Hey, my name isn't 'child', its Uzumaki Naruto you jerk!" the young boy shouted at the Kyuubi. The Bijuu stared at "Naruto" for a few minutes and the young Uzumaki suddenly got the feeling that it may not have been such a good idea to possibly anger a giant fox by yelling at it and calling it a jerk. All of sudden, the Kyuubi started to laugh. Its deep throaty laugh echoed throughout the chamber that the two of them where in.

The Bijuu didn't know if it was the way the child yelled at it with no fear of possible repercussions or the fact that the young boy got mad over it not calling him by name, but the kitsune just found something terribly amusing about the young Uzumaki in front of it.

"**Very well then, Naruto,**" the fox had stopped laughing and repeated the question again, "**Why are you here?**" Naruto, after seeing that the giant fox wasn't going to hurt him, answered, "I don't really know why or even how I got here at all."

The kitsune lowered its head enough to scrutinize the boy in front of it. The name Naruto suddenly seemed familiar to it for some reason and it could have also sworn that it had seen those odd whisker marks on the boy's cheeks. Then suddenly the yokai remembered everything about where it had heard and seen those things before, on the night of its mind being forcibly taken over by a sharingan once more and then the two people that had thrown themselves in front of their child to protect him from its claw.

Naruto watched terrified as the giant fox roared in rage before seeing that it had unintentionally leaked out its killing intent out and terrified the child in front of it. "**I apologize, child. I just remembered something**", the fox paused for a moment in order to select the right word to describe that horrible night, "**unpleasant**", it growled. Naruto just nodded dumbly not really caring that the kitsune didn't call him by his name again, as he was still in shock and noticeably pale from the killing intent that he had just been surrounded by. It wasn't even directed at him and it was still incredibly potent.

While Naruto recovered, the Kyuubi was debating with itself on whether or not it should tell the young boy who and what it really was. Because it was clear the boy was here by accident, what with being unafraid of its presence. The Bijuu, now thinking with a clearer head than on the night of its forced attack, felt slightly guilty at trying to kill a baby Naruto just to stay free. It begrudgingly respected Minato and Kushina for protecting their son the way they did and holding on to life long enough to give their son their last words while impaled on one of its claws. Remembering that his parents had wanted Naruto to grow into an amazing shinobi, the Bijuu decided on a course of action. It would teach the boy, and when it felt the child was mature enough, it would tell him the truth about everything that had happened on that horrible night.

Naruto shivered, finally regaining the color in his face, worked up the nerve to ask the kitsune, "Wh-what _was _that?" he gulped, "It felt like I was gonna die for a second there." The Kyuubi decided, since the boy was already acquainted with the feeling thanks to it, to start the teaching with the subject of, "**Killing intent, which you just felt, is a projected feeling of the desire to kill or maim, and generally filled with malice and hatred.**" the boy listened curiously, "**What you felt from me was indirect killing intent because it was not directed at you, but at something I had remembered. There are two types of killing intent; the first is direct killing intent, which the user focuses directly on their target or targets, the second is indirect killing intent, which is far more general in those it's directed at, but is slightly weaker than its direct form. The second is also known as passive killing intent because the person using it doesn't really need to focus on whom to unleash it** **on**." The Bijuu was glad to notice that Naruto had been focused on its explanation and appeared to understand it despite being so young. The Kyuubi had tried to be as concise and descriptive as it could to help the young boy understand it easier, but it didn't really expect him to get it this early. It was just an explanation to satisfy the child's curiosity, not to teach him yet. That would come later. First the boy needed to grasp the basics of everything that it would teach, and then the Kyuubi would be able to teach the boy properly.

"So where am I, and how did I get here?" Naruto asked. He had been wondering that since he got to the strange sewer, but with nobody to ask the question slipped his mind. Until he found the giant kitsune behind a cage. Now with somebody to ask, the question returned to the forefront of his mind.

The Kyuubi was thinking about how much to say to the boy in front of it. It didn't want the child to fear it if it wanted to teach him. The fox then said, "**We are in a place in your soul generally referred to by the term "mindscape", but as to how you got here, I don't know exactly.**" The Kyuubi didn't necessarily lie, because it really didn't know how the boy got here. It was, however, fortuitous that the boy was too busy sulking lightly about not knowing anything more than that to ask why a giant nine tailed yokai was in his mind. It really didn't want to have to explain that, yet.

Naruto was slightly upset that he still didn't know how he got to this weird place, but he at least knew _where_ he was now. That was something at least. All of a sudden, his body started to fade. The young boy screamed. "What's happening, what's going on?!"

Seeing the boy begin to fade from his mindscape, the Kyuubi acted quickly. The fox shot a small tendril of its youki towards its container's fading body and attached it to the child's forehead. Establishing a connection to the child's mind so it could telepathically contact the boy in order to help guide and teach him.

As the young Uzumaki's body faded away the fox yokai sighed, '**_The kit is lucky he found me this early_**.' The Kyuubi, when the tendril attached to the boy's forehead, saw the first five years of its containers life. Even if the boy couldn't remember everything from his life, because he was just a baby, it didn't mean he didn't hear or notice what happened around him. It just meant that the boy didn't have the physical capability of remembering something so young. The Kyuubi however didn't have such limitations. The Kyuubi was glad it decided to teach the boy, because otherwise it doubted that anyone would truly teach him anything. The kitsune didn't want to have a weak container, after all the boy basically represented it now and the Kyuubi refused to have a weak avatar in the world, so it would teach the young Uzumaki all it knew of those human techniques called jutsu. And thanks to being sealed inside of two kunoichi that were wives to Hokage, it knew quite a few techniques. The fox may not have been able to experience much of anything behind the seals that held it, but that didn't mean it didn't have their knowledge, and what better way to use that knowledge than to teach the last Uzumaki.

* * *

(Unknown Underground Secret Chamber - 9:20 pm - October 10 - 53 AVF)

As Naruto slowly regained consciousness once more, he noticed that he was back on the hard, stone floor that he landed on when he fell down the stairs. He also noticed that his arm and head were fully healed, but the right arm of his shirt and his pants were still torn and ripped respectively. '_Was that a dream_?' Naruto wondered. If that was a dream it was incredibly realistic.

"**No child, it wasn't a dream**," the giant fox that he had met in his mindscape cut in, "**It was all real.**" '**_Well, as real as anything can be in your mind I suppose_.**' The Bijuu mused to itself. The fox silently chuckled at the thought.

Naruto was shocked to hear the voice of one of the few beings that had been at least cordial with him, speak from as if it had heard his thoughts. "How did you know I thought meeting you was a dream?" the boy asked suspiciously.

The Kyuubi began to explain, "**As you began fading from your mindscape, I attached a small tendril of my youki to your mental representation of your body in order to speak with you telepathically. After all, how could I teach you anything if you couldn't hear me?**" The fox chuckled at the boy's shock. "So you're going to teach me and you can read my mind?! That's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed.

The Kyuubi felt like that it made a good choice in a student if Naruto was always going to be so enthusiastic. The Bijuu hoped said enthusiasm carried over to training as well. However there was one thing it needed to take care of right away, "**You can just think what you want me to hear and I'll hear it, child.**" It couldn't have the village learning that Naruto was speaking to it, after all. It would be sealed up so tight it wouldn't be able to teach him at all then.

Naruto concentrated lightly and thought to the kitsune, "_Like this, right_?" Naruto didn't think it would be that easy, but was happy it was. It would've been annoying if it was complicated.

"**That's right, but right now do you know where you are?**" the Kyuubi asked curiously. It was glad that Naruto got the concept down quickly, but as it looked around through Naruto's eyes it began to wonder where its container was. It was an unintended bonus that the Kyuubi was grateful for because it hadn't seen or smelled the outside world this much since it was sealed decades ago. It was nice to be able to experience the outside world again, however minor the experience was. What was odd however, was the sixth sense that Naruto had partially unlocked. The sixth sense seemed similar to the Byakugan that the Kyuubi had learned about while in its previous containers in the fact that it could see 360 degrees, but seemed to have a different ability than being able to see chakra. It seemed to have a similar feel to the way the fox could feel could feel human emotions, but different at the same time. However a more pressing concern of the kitsune was where they were because the Bijuu could sense a large amount of emotions coming from the tome on top of the pedestal in the center of the room.

Naruto, oblivious to the fox's musings, thought to it, "_I don't know, but I ran into the forest on the back of the mountain trying to get away from some people who found me in the warm alley I was sleeping in because the mean old lady at the orphanage kicked me out again. One of them hit me on the head with a broken bottle, which woke me up, and another one hit me on my arm as I turned to run away. I found this weird gate in the middle of the forest, but it looked like there were only more trees behind it, but when I pushed it open the trees turned into an old looking house. I went into the house to try to find a bed or something, but I tripped over something and fell down some stairs and wound up here."_

The Kyuubi deduced that there must have been a blood seal where Naruto touched the gate and that the trees didn't turn into a house, but an illusion must have been dispelled when he touched the seal. However the Kyuubi wanted to know why someone would go to such lengths to hide this place and why Naruto had been able to open it. "**Naruto, go take a look at that book, on the pedestal over there.**" '**_I can sense so many jumbled emotions coming from that thing. Whatever it is, it was clearly the reason whoever made the seals around here hid this place_**_._' the Bijuu thought silently.

Naruto slowly walked over to where the old tome was and was wary of any possible traps. As he walked over Naruto felt like he was walking through something, but he couldn't tell what it was. The Kyuubi could though, because of its access to Naruto's sixth sense that the boy couldn't activate consciously yet. The kitsune had noticed that the only reason it had even partial access was because Naruto only activated his ability on instinct whenever he used it and never really had time to notice the use of it.

The Kyuubi could see seals surrounding the entire chamber, written in blood, all centered on the tome. Even the place where Naruto had landed after falling down the stairs was covered in them. Based on the knowledge of seals it held from its time being sealed in Mito and Kushina, it could tell that the seals were all intricately connected to one another and multiple types of seals were spread all throughout the chamber. There were many more seals, but the kitsune had a hard time deciphering all of them because of how all of the seals were placed together. Seals were generally placed in geometric shapes or certain symbols to make it harder to decipher them. Where Naruto had landed, there was a _Soul Intention_ seal, one that was clearly how Naruto arrived in his mindscape.

It searched the targets soul for any ill intentions towards whatever it was attached to and would activate all the other seals it was connected to, if necessary. It was impossible to fool a _Soul_ _Intention_ seal because it wouldn't search your intentions on the surface, it would search your entire soul, everything about you no matter how well hidden, will become known to the seal after its search was complete. A side effect of the seal was that it forced the target into their mindscape so that they couldn't interfere with its soul scan. The drawbacks of the seal however, were that it could only be attached to an inanimate object and that it was useless for protection on its own. It had to be connected to another seal to work properly because even with the usage of the seal it wouldn't be able to stop anyone with ill intentions on its own. Plus the amount of chakra it takes to simply create it is astronomical for even an elite jonin to produce let alone activate it.

As Naruto bypassed the seals and arrived at the pedestal, he could see the symbol and words carved into the front. A whirlpool like symbol was carved into the top of the front and below it was an inscription that Naruto could read, which said,

_The Legacy of the Uzumaki Clan_

**_Nothing is true, Everything is permitted_**_._

I._ Stay your blade from the flesh of_ _an innocent._

II._ Hide in plain sight and always be discreet; be one with your surroundings._

III_. Never compromise the Clan._

'_I have a_ _family_?' Naruto thought incredulously. He then looked at the four lines below the first that he'd read, "_Do you have any idea what this means_?" Naruto asked the Kyuubi, not that he knew that of course.

The Kyuubi had never really looked at much of anything other than jutsu in its previous host's minds because it hadn't been interested in anything other than its own escape, but it had known that the Uzumaki clan had been destroyed because it had used that fact to try and get Kushina to release it for revenge. However it didn't know about any kind of Legacy that they had left behind. "**I don't know anything about this, but you should take a look at that book. It is your birthright after all.**" The Kyuubi was curious about what was held in the tome to have imbued it with so many emotions.

Naruto slowly reached for the old book where he once again noticed a crimson whirlpool like symbol in the center of the front cover. As he picked it up, Naruto fumbled around, trying to get a good grip on the huge book. The tome was surprisingly light for its size. It was thicker than Naruto's arms and almost bigger than his torso, but it barely weighed more than a normal sized book.

Naruto sighed in relief when he got a good grip on it because he really didn't want to damage the old thing, especially since it was an item of the family he never knew he'd had. Seeing as he didn't really have anything better to do at the moment and the fact that he was completely awake and recovered from his earlier incident with the drunks, he decided to go back up the stairs and search for a comfortable place to read the book.

* * *

(Secret Uzumaki Clan Compound - 9:26 pm - October 10 - 53 AVF)

The boy looked outside from the window in the main houses living room and saw that the moon was in roughly the same place as it had been before he came into the compound. Meaning that he hadn't been inside all that long and that meant he still had to wait the night out in the compound. He didn't want to leave and get attacked again.

The young boy got comfortable on the old looking couch and opened to the first page of the book. On the inside of the cover was a list of the chapters.

_Table of Contents_

_Chapter 1: _The Maxim & Creed of the Uzumaki Clan, its Origins and Meanings

_Chapter 2: _The Ideals & History of the Uzumaki Clan

_Chapter 3: _Shinobi Survival Skills

_Chapter 4: _Taijutsu (Basic)

_Chapter 5: _Ninjutsu (Basic)

_Chapter 6: _Genjutsu (Basic)

_Chapter 7: _Bukijutsu (Basic)

_Chapter 8: _Kenjutsu (Basic)

_Chapter 9:_ Iryoujutsu (Basic)

_Chapter 10: _Fuinjutsu Categories & Ranks

_Chapter 11: _Fuinjutsu & Seals (Novice I, II, III)

_Chapter 12: _Taijutsu (Intermediate)

_Chapter 13: _Ninjutsu (Intermediate)

_Chapter 14: _Genjutsu (Intermediate)

_Chapter 15: _Bukijutsu (Intermediate)

_Chapter 16: _Kenjutsu (Intermediate)

_Chapter 17_: Iryoujutsu (Intermediate)

_Chapter 18_: Fuinjutsu & Seals (Intermediate I, II, III)

_Chapter 19_: Taijutsu (Expert)

_Chapter 20: _Ninjutsu (Expert)

_Chapter 21: _Genjutsu (Expert)

_Chapter 22: _Bukijutsu (Expert)

_Chapter 23: _Kenjutsu (Expert)

_Chapter 24_: Iryoujutsu (Expert)

_Chapter 25: _Fuinjutsu & Seals (Expert I, II, III, IV)

_Chapter 26:_ Taijutsu (Specialist)

_Chapter 27: _Ninjutsu (Specialist)

_Chapter 28: _Genjutsu (Specialist)

_Chapter 29: _Bukijutsu (Specialist)

_Chapter 30: _Kenjutsu (Specialist)

_Chapter 31: _Iryoujutsu (Specialist)

_Chapter 32: _Fuinjutsu & Seals (Specialist I, II, III, IV)

_Chapter 33: _Taijutsu (Master)

_Chapter 34: _Ninjutsu (Master)

_Chapter 35: _Genjutsu (Master)

_Chapter 36: _Bukijutsu (Master)

_Chapter 37: _Kenjutsu (Master)

_Chapter 38: _Iryoujutsu (Master)

_Chapter 39: _Fuinjutsu & Seals (Apprentice I, II, III, IV)

_Chapter 40_: Fuinjutsu & Seals (Master I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII)

_Chapter 41_: Reijutsu

_Chapter_ _42_: Forbidden Jutsu

_Chapter_ _43_: Forbidden Seals

_Chapter_ _44_: The Truth

After skimming over the table of contents Naruto noticed a note at the bottom that was from someone named Uzumaki Mito.

The Kyuubi growled audibly, which Naruto picked up on and decided to ask, "_Did you know this person_?" The Kyuubi replied, "**Yes. Uzumaki Mito was a**," the Kyuubi paused slightly to select the right word to describe _that_ convoluted relationship, "**an acquaintance of my mine before she died**."

Naruto replied, "_Oh, I'm sorry to hear that_." Naruto didn't really know what it was like to lose someone, but he wished that this Mito person was still alive for his newest friend and teacher. Naruto tried to project his sympathy to the giant fox, the same way it had told him how killing intent was projected, only using the emotion of comfort instead the desire to harm.

The Kyuubi suddenly felt a small wave of kindness come from its container. The Bijuu's eyes softened slightly at its host's efforts to comfort it, despite his lack of knowledge on the kitsune's complete relationship with Mito.

As Naruto read the note he tried to project to the giant fox so that it could hear it to,

_Dear Young Uzumaki,_

_The Uzumaki who finds this will most likely be the last of our once great clan. An invasion had been planned by Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure with intelligence on our clan's defenses having been leaked by one man from Konohagakure: Shimura Danzo. This man went behind the Hokage's back while he was commanding his forces at different areas throughout the Second Shinobi War and leaked intelligence he had secretly obtained to the three villages anonymously. The only reason I haven't killed him yet is because he is useful to the war effort and because without him many innocent would suffer and that goes against our Creed. I secretly went to my family in Uzushiogakure and told them what I knew. The only Uzumaki not in our village at the time was young Kushina-chan and we had at most a month before the three villages would be able to gather their forces for such a heavy assault. Every Uzumaki gathered together to compile all of our knowledge, every style, every jutsu and every seal. All of the Uzumaki's knowledge dating back to even when we were still once part of the Senju Clan before we grew weary of their fighting with the Uchiha Clan and split off has been placed in here, in hope that our knowledge will not be forgotten. I then secretly returned to the village after saying good-bye to my family, knowing that I will likely never see them in my lifetime again. Some Uzumaki left the village as they were not fighters, but they still placed their knowledge into this journal before they left for safety. They had prepared to take the children as well, but all of the current generation had grown up and desired to fight with their families. We allowed them to do so with much regret and pride. Regret because they were the youngest Uzumaki in the village and pride because of the strength of the love they felt for their families. I have protected our Legacy and added all of the knowledge I have gained after this great tragedy to this journal throughout the rest of my life and now, it is time for me to see my family once more. This is the Legacy of the Uzumaki Clan and the representation of our eternal will to fight and to never give up._

_Good Luck Young Uzumaki,_

_Sincerely, Uzumaki Mito_."

As soon as Naruto finished reading the note he set the journal down  
on the table in front of the couch he had been sitting on and began crying to himself. He finally discovered that he had a family, only to find out that they were gone before he could have ever gotten the chance to know them and to know the love of a family. Taken from him by a traitor in the village that he lived in. Even though three of the Great Village's had attacked his clan's homeland, they wouldn't have been able to without the information that Danzo had supplied them with. If he got the chance, he wouldn't make the same mistake that Mito had made in letting the man live. He would strike him down without mercy. However he refused to allow himself to become consumed by the need for vengeance, he doubted that his family would want that kind of life for him. No, he would become the living legacy of his clan and learn everything inside the tome that they left behind. No matter how long it took.

The Kyuubi stayed silent while its student projected the note he was reading to it, unaware that the Bijuu could see through his eyes. The fact was the fox had never really hated Mito for sealing it into herself in order to protect her husband during the final fight between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara as she had only done what she thought would help protect her husband. What the kitsune had hated Mito and Kushina for was thinking that just because it was a yokai, it was evil. They never once tried to understand its point-of-view on anything they accused it of.

As its container cried, the fox Bijuu tried to send a small wave of comfort towards its unknowing host, but couldn't because the Shinigami's seal blocking it from influencing its containers emotions. The kid had just found out that he'd had family only learn that they were most likely dead after having been kicked out of the orphanage and attacked by drunks, for Kami's sake the child had just turned five years old.

All of a sudden, as Naruto was crying, a searing pain enveloped his eyes. Naruto closed eyes tightly and pressed his palms against his eyelids in an effort to alleviate his pain as he screamed. Unbeknownst to the young Uzumaki, his eyes began crying tears of blood as he screamed in agony.

The Kyuubi suddenly noticed a change in its container's eyesight before just before Naruto's eyes started changing. As Naruto collapsed off of the couch he had been sitting on and wanting to try and help its young student, the Bijuu sent a small amount of its youki to the boy's eyes in an effort to dull the pain for him.

After an hour of agony that felt like days, of which Naruto was forced to stay conscious for, he finally opened his eyes. Naruto gasped in shock, because he could see clearer than he ever had before, but for some reason, even though he could see almost perfectly as well as in every direction around him without even turning around, the colors of everything were faded slightly and the Legacy was glowing a bright cobalt blue.

The Bijuu was surprised by how clearly its host could see everything in a 360 degree field of vision, but had expected this because of its access to Naruto's previously underdeveloped sixth sense. However what the kitsune hadn't expected was just how clearly its Jinchuriki could see everything. It was like everything suddenly became more focused. The only thing that was odd was the fact that the tome was glowing as if Naruto's sixth sense had been activated.

Naruto quickly ran through house in search of a mirror or something else reflective to check on his eyes. He was scared of what they might look like now because he was sure that his eyes were not supposed to hurt like that or suddenly be able to see clearer than before and other things glowing for no reason at all. When Naruto found a bathroom he quickly found a mirror, but closed his eyes in fear of what he may have seen in his reflection.

As its host searched the main house of the compound for a reflective surface, the Bijuu was contemplating just what the hell happened after it had awakened. It saw a young boy barely five years old get mad at it for not calling him by his name, it had remembered that said boy was its newest Jinchuriki, decided to teach said Jinchuriki in order to have a proper avatar to represent it in the world, and partially to atone for trying to kill a baby Naruto, found out that the Uzumaki Clan had left possibly the greatest amount of amassed and recorded knowledge it had ever seen, by humans anyway, as their Legacy, and finally, its host appeared to have some form of Doujutsu that it had never heard of before. The Kyuubi had never heard of a Doujutsu that could see emotions similar to its ability to sense them.

After noticing how scared its host was about what he might see the Bijuu said softly, "**It's ok Kit. Open your eyes.**" Naruto shook in slight fear and asked timidly, "_Wh-what if I look like a freak? I don't want to get picked on more than I am already_." "_And I don't want you to hate me like everyone else if I look weird._" Naruto was unaware that he had projected his last thought.

The Kyuubi's eyes softened after it heard Naruto's reason for his fear. It spoke softly once more, "**Don't worry kit, I won't hate you. No matter what you look like**." Naruto's shivering died down and he asked, "_Do you promise? Will you stay with me forever and ever_?" Naruto had never had a friend that had helped him as much as the kitsune did. He wanted to know that he would always have somebody to turn to in the fox.

The Kyuubi grimaced. It knew that Naruto not at fault for being unaware of the consequences of asking a yokai to make such a promise. Because a yokai is bound by their word if they ever make an oath, they must be cautious of whom they make a promise to. However a yokai must be of sound mind when making a vow and that makes it nearly impossible for a yokai to be forced to make a promise. The Bijuu decided to make a compromise with the way its response was worded. "**I will stay with you for as long as I can and I will never hate you for something as superficial as the way you look**." The Kyuubi stated. The Bijuu worded its response carefully so that while it eased the boy's fears, it wouldn't bind the Kyuubi to a promise it may have been unable to keep. Naruto, hearing that his new friend wouldn't hate him, slowly opened his eyes.

As Naruto looked at his reflection, everything but his eyes all looked as they had before. Same tattered shirt and pants, same relatively comfortable sandals, and same blond hair and whisker marks. But his eyes now appeared to have a purple sclera and iris with a tiny pupil in the center with four concentric ripples spread throughout the purple sclera from the pupil to the eyes edge. For some reason, he could see his reflection glowing a pale cobalt blue, similar to the color the Legacy glowed.

The Bijuu was shocked as its container opened his eyes to reveal eyes that it hadn't seen in a very, _very_ long time. "**Rinnegan**," the Kyuubi breathed, '**_But_ _how_**?' it wondered. The Rinnegan eyes had only ever belonged to one person, and the Kyuubi had never figured out how _he _had gotten them, but they had given _him_ overwhelming power when the eyes had become fully mature.

"_Do you know what_ _this_?" Naruto asked nervously, "_I hope I can get my blue eyes back I like that color_." He had liked his eye color the way it was before and now he had some weird new eye. Maybe the fox had seen something like this before and maybe it knew why Naruto was glowing blue like the Legacy.

The fox heard its containers worries and decided to soothe them, "**Yes I know what those eyes are, but everything about those eyes will need to be covered by a completely separate lesson in the _far_ future. Now to turn off those eyes you need to focus and try to feel the energy flowing into your eyes and lower it until you can no longer feel it**."

This would at least stop the Bijuu's host from accidentally using one of the abilities that the eyes can use until he would be able to handle the chakra cost. The Kyuubi knew that its host had a large amount of chakra available, but without the ability to control it properly, the Rinnegan techniques would drain him dry. The only reason Naruto survived the _Soul Intention_ seal in the secret chamber was because he hadn't needed to make it and because of that it only took roughly the same amount of chakra as an elite Jonin's full reserves to activate the seal. Naruto's full reserves for the moment were the equivalent of a seasoned ANBU operative close to becoming a captain, which combined with his loss of blood, the sudden chakra drain made him pass out. If Naruto were to try even the weakest of the Rinnegan techniques right now he could possibly die from chakra exhaustion. Contrary to popular assumption overloading a jutsu without adequate control would just drain ones reserves even quicker than just performing the jutsu with minimal chakra for maximum effect with adequate control. However a jutsu's power could be increased by adding more chakra to the technique, but doing something like that still required a good amount of chakra control.

Naruto did as his teacher instructed and closed his eyes to focus. He could feel a large amount of _something_ flooding his eyes and knew instinctively that was the energy the kitsune was talking about. He focused intently on stopping the flow and, little by little, the rushing energy slowed to a trickle. Thinking that he was done Naruto opened his eyes again. His eyes had changed again, only this time the sclera was back to normal, but his iris was a deep golden color and, even though he saw differently than earlier, it was not the way he saw normally. This time all he could see were the colors black, white, and grey when it came to his surroundings and his reflection was still glowing blue. He closed his eyes once again and slowed trickle of energy to a complete stop. This time when he opened his eyes they were back to their normal cerulean blue, but with small gold flecks throughout the iris and he could see normally again. Naruto gave an enthusiastic shout of happiness and thought gratefully to his unknown (to him at least) tenant, "_Thank you_!"

The Kyuubi silently observed its student while he deactivated the legendary Doujutsu. When Naruto had first opened his eyes the Bijuu noticed that he had accidentally activated his sixth sense, willingly instead of instinctively, for the first time. It seemed to focus on what the wielder could see and magnify the field of vision completely around them. It also seemed to color specific things to aid the user in their endeavors. Whatever it was, the Bijuu had a feeling that it would be very helpful in the future. And the future was shaping up very interestingly for its young Jinchuriki.

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**Author Note: This is the first chapter of my first story. This is going to be an incredibly long story and I will not be making any other major fanfiction until this one is complete. I hope you enjoyed reading it.**

Terms/Jutsu Used/Mentioned

_AVF- After Village Formation_

Shinobi Ranking System

_Academy Students- Low to High E-Rank_

_Genin- Low D-Rank to Low C-Rank_

_Chunin- Mid C-Rank to Mid B-Rank_

_Rookie Jonin- High B-Rank_

_Standard Jonin & Tokubetsu Jonin- Low A-Rank to Mid A-Rank_

_Elite Jonin & ANBU- High A-Rank to Low S-Rank_

_ANBU Captains & the ANBU Commander- Mid S-Rank_

_ANBU Black Ops- High S-Rank_

_Kage, Sage, Bijuu, & Perfect Jinchuriki- Low SS-Rank to High SS-Rank_

_Paperwork- SSS-Rank (Wanted: Defeated in all countries. Most Hated Enemy of all leaders. There is a large amount of speculation that multiple powerful leaders have orchestrated wars and/or their own deaths in order to escape from this enemy.)_

_(Note: S-Rank stands for Suicide-Rank meaning that unless you are of equal or higher rank it would be suicide to go up against them.)_

**Review would you kindly,**

**Draconias- Over and Out.**


	2. Chapter 1: The Prince of Pranks Finale

"I want to become the greatest Hokage, Dattebayo."- Normal Talking

'_Ugh. I can't believe I actually said that without puking_.'-_ Normal Thoughts_

"_Hey, do I have to keep acting like this, Kyuubi-sensei_?"- Telepathic Conversation

"**If you want to ruin years' worth of planning, go ahead and stop acting like a dumbass you brat**."- Speech of a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

'**_Ugh. I swear, if this brat wasn't my student, I would have devoured him ten times over for having to act like such a_ _fool_**.'- Thoughts of a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

"**_At least your Jinchuriki is sane_**." Telepathic Conversation between Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)"- Technique being used

"**Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)**"- Technique being used by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

'_Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)_'- Technique being subvocalized

'**_Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)_**'- Technique being subvocalized by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

"_Fuin_!" Seal being used

"**_Fuin_**!" Seal being used by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

'_Fuin_!' Seal being subvocalized

'**_Fuin_**!' Seal being subvocalized by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

**Review Replies** _(This will be where I answer the reviews from the previous chapter, but I won't change this for any reviews that are posted after the next chapter has been updated. If you want me to reply about a review that you made in a previous chapter, specify which chapter in your review and I will do my best to respond in the next chapter's Review Replies section. All you really need to do is review the most current chapter at the time and specify your question and the chapter to which it is about. If you don't do this odds are I won't notice the question. If I miss it in the most recent chapter just let me know and I will try to fix it and apologize. However if you are a flamer, don't bother reviewing because I won't answer anything other than honest questions, polite reviews, and constructive criticism.)_

**ExtendedCow- **First I must say, really? You have an amusing name. Thanks for reviewing and I just want to clarify something. The Kyuubi doesn't exactly care for Naruto per say, yet. It's mainly concerned about its reputation at the moment. However that doesn't mean that the Bijuu, doesn't care about him, it's just its main concern is the fact that if it had a weak Jinchuriki, it would reflect badly on it. Because Naruto doesn't have any major influences coloring his view of the Kyuubi, Naruto will be able to objectively view it as he gets to know it. This is actually what pissed me off in the canon Naruto. He never tried to actually get to know the Kyuubi before making a judgment based on what he had been told about it. Like the villagers never trying to get to know Naruto before labeling him a demon brat in canon. That makes him very hypocritical and it pisses me off because he denies it, and doesn't even try to fix it until hundreds of chapters later. The Kyuubi will be one of Naruto's main influences in this story so something like that won't happen unless it's an accident or done intentionally for character development. It still hates Minato and Kushina, but it respects their resolve and their sacrifice for Naruto. That's it. I hope that cleared everything up. I didn't want you to be too surprised if the Kyuubi did something that you may consider out of character because I didn't warn you beforehand. I get a little annoyed when that happens to me, so I thought I would just let you know before anything irritated you.

**BR0TH3R MENACE- **I'm glad I'm not your brother because based on your name I assume you'd be a menace to me. Thanks for the review and it won't die out because my muse is almost always coming up with new ideas. Sometimes it's hard to sleep because of it and I'm already an insomniac so that really just makes it worse. Thanks for the review.

**Shooter375- **Thanks for your review and I want to clarify something. Yes Kakashi was a former ANBU Captain, but the key word here is former. By the time Kakashi had taken Team 7, his skills had deteriorated from lack of use and his skill became that of an Elite Jonin instead of an ANBU Captain. While he kept his knowledge, his body could no longer keep up and so he lost a step so to speak. After the time-skip, he had trained for roughly two and a half years straight and regained his level of skill that he had in ANBU. In this story, S-Rank is not merely a higher level than A-Rank. The difference between A and S ranks is huge. An A rank shinobi can fight multiple B ranks and a few C ranks all at once and come out alive, but exhausted. An S rank can fight multiple A ranks and B ranks and come out without a scratch. The difference between S ranks and SS ranks is huge, but two High S ranks can fight to at least a standstill against Mid SS ranks and possibly a victory against Low SS ranks, but both sides would develop severe injuries from the confrontation. This doesn't mean that any two High S ranks could fight any level of SS rank. Their teamwork would have to be impeccable. I will place more specifics at the bottom of this chapter.

**Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.**

I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Prince of Pranks Finale**

* * *

(Konohagakure – Naruto's Apartment – 6:00 am – January 6 – 61 AVF)

_Brring!_

_Brring!_

_Brri-_**Crash!**

A lump lying on the only bed in the apartment twitched before flinging a kunai at the offending alarm clock. The lump groaned and sat up revealing a somewhat messy mop of blond hair revealing the lump to be a twelve year old Uzumaki Naruto, the self-proclaimed future Hokage and lover of all things ramen. At least, as far as nearly everyone in the village of Konoha knew, not that any of them really cared enough to try and figure out the real Uzumaki Naruto.

"Shit. Not another one." Naruto groaned. The alarm clock was brand new. He just bought (see: stole from prejudice shopkeepers) it the previous week. "At least this one lasted until today. I really hate these things." He swore, if he ever found the asshole who invented the alarm clock he would make the fool beg for death before killing him in the most painful way possible.

Meanwhile in the preteen's mindscape the Kyuubi chuckled at the boy's hatred of alarm clocks. The fox shared its containers rage towards those blasted things. Because the Kyuubi had ended up sharing Naruto's senses when they had first met, the boy's senses ended up becoming enhanced beyond the levels of normal humans.

Shinobi usually had to channel chakra to a specific area in order to gain enhanced senses or be connected to a bonded animal like the Inuzuka clan. However Naruto never had to do that to gain those effects. They were always permanently on, which made him very sensitive towards anything and everything.

It was very good because it meant that Naruto would almost always be able to tell whenever someone was following him or if somebody was trying to attack him. Conversely however, Naruto would also always be sensitive towards pain, and he had to work on his pain tolerance a lot just so a little cut wouldn't make him scream like he got a limb cut off. The Kyuubi really hated that training because it felt the pain from Naruto's perspective which made the Bijuu actually feel pain without actually being hurt.

It also made him a very picky eater, because he could barely stand anything without some kind of flavor that he liked to eat. This actually meant that he didn't have to fake loving ramen, because to his hypersensitive taste it was one of the greatest things he had ever tasted. However it wasn't all he ate like he would have the village believe, he was just short for his age. If anyone ever brought this fact up when he was in earshot though, they were liable to be on the ass end of an asskicking. (1)

As a result of his enhanced senses, came an extreme hatred of alarm clocks because of his enhanced hearing, and ever since Naruto had started training his reflexes, he immediately attacked whoever or whatever woke him up instinctively. One poor ANBU had to wake him up for a meeting with the Hokage and nearly got castrated because he entered Naruto's room right when the alarm went off. The level of the alarm clock nearly made the shinobi lose what made him a man had he not jumped to the ceiling and stuck there.

Naruto grumbled obscenities towards the destroyed hunk of metal that used to be an alarm clock as he walked towards his closet. He rifled through the back of his closet until he found what he was looking for and then took off his nightclothes and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

Naruto sighed as he felt the warm water cascade down his back. Thank Kami for heating seals. The stupid landlady cut off all the heat to his pipes the second she learned that the 'demon brat' was renting an apartment. Thankfully there weren't many physical assaults like the night where he ended up meeting his sensei seven years ago. There was only the occasional drunk and a few cases on his birthday, but since he quickly learned to not go out that day or just spend the day with the Hokage he didn't really have to worry about being physically harmed. Psychologically on the other hand was a whole other story. Even though he didn't like living in the village or many of the people in it, it still hurt to have his existence being ignored or treated like a pest by so many people.

After the Hokage had learned of what happened that night he enrolled Naruto into the Shinobi Academy the next year, so that he could learn to defend himself from people like those drunks. '_Tomorrow is the day I finally graduate that stupid Academy. Finally. If I had to stay one more year I think I would have lost my mind_.' The Konohagakure Shinobi Academy was pathetic in his opinion. All they did for the first two years was learn about history, theoretical use of chakra, theoretical weapons usage, theoretical Taijutsu, theoretical Genjutsu, and theoretical Ninjutsu.

It wasn't until they were eight years old that they actually started doing anything physical and even then the "spars" that were conducted were only one minute long with no statements of how they could improve. One of the only other physical things that they did was practice throwing kunai and shuriken on static targets from a short distance away. The exercises they assigned were the bare minimum necessary to even learn the Academy Taijutsu style and they didn't even bother to check the students to see if they were actually doing the exercises. Instead they just assumed that the students listened and then gave out written assignments for the rest of the week.

They didn't even cover any kind of Genjutsu and the three Ninjutsu that were required to pass were so basic that they were basically useless on the battlefield. Except for the Kawarimi no jutsu (Substitution Jutsu), which was probably the only jutsu that the Academy taught that was actually useful. Praise be to the Log, for the Log is kind. (2)

The Henge no jutsu (Transformation Jutsu) was an illusion that would dispel at the slightest physical contact and the Bunshin no jutsu (Clone Jutsu) was so easy to see through it was laughable. Naruto considered himself lucky to have learned two variations of those techniques that could actually be useful in a situation where he needed them, instead of being stuck with those useless techniques.

Naruto dried himself off in his bedroom and picked out the clothes he was going to wear. Orange cargo pants and jacket. Check. Black t-shirt to wear under said jacket. Check. Sandals. Check. Horribly impractical goggles to enhance the supposed fact that he was an idiot. Check. Plaster stupid grin on face. Check. Naruto looked out his bedroom window to see the sun just beginning to poke out from the treetops on top of the Hokage Monument. Naruto chuckled mischievously. He didn't know if he would be allowed any leniency by the old Hokage when he became a Genin, no matter how much the old man cared for him, so he was going to remind everyone in Konoha just why he was the undisputed Prince of Pranks.

* * *

(Rooftops of Konohagakure no Sato – 10:37 am – January 6 – 61 AVF)

The maniacal cackling of Konohagakure's Prince of Pranks echoed throughout the air as he was being chased by two Chunin that had found him after he finished giving some color (see: painting all over) the Hokage faces that adorned the mountainside.

On the far left was the Shodaime Hokage, Senju Hashirama. His normal, calm expression that was portrayed on the cliff was painted to look like it was made out of wood with ridiculous graffiti spray painted every which way to make look even more outlandish.

To the right was Hashirama's brother, Senju Tobirama. His stern expression looked absolutely bizarre considering the fact that he had a veritable waterfall flowing out of his eyes and mouth, making it look like he was bawling and drooling like a baby.

The third head on the mountain was the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. His likeness was painted a faded white with the top and bottom of his face painted black. Out of his likeness' nose were two lines of red paint making it look like it was bleeding.

The final head on the monument was the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. The Yondaime's head was painted the most ludicrous out of the four heads carved into the mountain. His face was painted in the likeness of a kabuki actor with a red fox face painted on the middle of his forehead. He had two small lines of red paint going from the bottom of his eyes to his chin. However what was the most disturbing was the lecherous grin that stretched ear to ear painted on the Hokage's face.

As Naruto hopped around the rooftops he began throwing paint filled water balloons at the shinobi chasing him whenever they took to the air to try and get the drop on him. "What's the matter? Can't you catch a single Academy student?" Naruto taunted them as he chucked some of his last remaining water balloons. He nailed them both right in the face painting their already colorful bodies in even more paint. Their bodies were covered in neon orange, pink, green, and generally any other bright color that Naruto could get his hands on. Normally Naruto played a prank at least once a week in the Academy, however Naruto wanted everyone twitchy and on edge to screw with their heads, which was a prank all on its own. So for the past month he played no pranks and gathered up all of the materials necessary to perform this one last prank and go out with a bang. He wanted to make sure that his legacy as a prankster would never be outdone.

Naruto quickly made a sharp turn around the corner. When the two shinobi passed the 'empty' alley a tarp that blended in with the background of the fence dropped to reveal Naruto grinning widely as he watched the two shinobi disappear off into the distance, not noticing that he was no longer in front of them.

Naruto chuckled, "Suckers. How did they even become Chunin anyway?" "Found you, Naruto!" a voice yelled out from behind the prankster. Naruto jumped into the air in shock and yelled as he spun around to face the owner of the voice.

The owner of the voice was a tanned man with a scar going across the bridge of his nose. His hair was done up in a style similar to a pineapple and he was currently glaring at Naruto with his black eyes. He was wearing the standard shinobi garb that most Chunin and Jonin wore. Dark blue pants that were taped around the sandals to prevent any snagging, a green utility vest over a dark blue shirt, identical to the color of the pants, and on the man's forehead was a headband worn by all official shinobi with a metal plate sewn onto the cloth. Carved onto the center of the metal plate was a leaf and a whirlpool combined to make the symbol for Konohagakure no Sato.

"Iruka-sensei, how did you find me?" Naruto questioned, "Shouldn't you be at the Academy?" Naruto hated the fact that even with his enhanced senses Iruka could almost always find him. It was ridiculous how the man could almost always find him after he escaped from so many other shinobi that could probably trounce the Academy teacher in a fight and yet the man could find him when no one else could. It was like he got into Naruto's head and found out just where he would hide or escape to.

"I could ask you the same thing Naruto." Iruka said, "Don't you know that tomorrow is the final exams?" Iruka started ranting on and on about how he needed to stop pulling pranks and start focusing on his schoolwork as he dragged Naruto towards the Shinobi Academy.

* * *

(Konohagakure Shinobi Academy – 10:53 am – January 6 – 61 AVF)

Naruto sat tied up in rope that bound his arms to his sides in front of his classmates as an 'example of what happens to troublemakers' listening to Iruka ranting about his improper conduct as an Academy Student.

He had heard this spiel so many times that his eyes glazed over with boredom about two minutes in to the tirade. "_Hey Kyuubi-sensei, are you awake_?" The kitsune was surprisingly lazy when it wasn't training him to death. If he didn't have his healing abilities he'd probably be covered in scars from the torture it called training.

"**What do you want brat?**" The kitsune growled at its container. "_Nothing much, I just wanted to have a conversation with someone intelligent for a change_." Naruto replied simply. Naruto and the Kyuubi chuckled slightly at their private joke.

Naruto, when he had learned about the fox, had started making jokes about the stupidity of Konoha for considering him to be the Kyuubi trapped in human form. It was mostly the civilians that thought this and the shinobi were usually indifferent towards him. Although a few of the shinobi favored him and sometimes cared for him on their downtime from missions. A few, like a bunch of the teachers at the Academy actually hated him, though if it were for his pranks or being the container for the Kyuubi, he wasn't exactly sure.

As he was dressing down Naruto, Iruka noticed Naruto's eyes had glazed over sometime during his 'explanation of proper conduct'. The teacher's eye twitched with irritation. "Hey! Are you even listening to me Naruto?!" he yelled. Naruto's eyes quickly came back into focus and he stared and Iruka for a few seconds. "Hm? Did you say something Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto had a hard time not grinning when he saw Iruka's veins bulge on his forehead. He loved screwing with people's heads when they caught him talking to the Kyuubi. It appeared to the outside world that he wasn't paying attention at all when he did that, but in reality he actually was. He would have to thank Kakashi-aniki when he got the chance. Oh and prank his ass for giving him "The Talk" using Icha-Icha. He did _not_ need to know all that information. He was only twelve years old for Kami's sake!

* * *

Somewhere in Konoha Kakashi got a chill up his spine. '_Why do I suddenly feel the need to hide under my bed?_' the masked man thought to himself before shrugging and walking out of the adult bookstore with his new Icha-Icha book giggling to himself. Heedless of all the glares the female population was giving him.

* * *

Back at the Academy, Iruka shouted, "All right then Naruto. Because you missed it, everyone will review the Henge no jutsu (Transformation Jutsu) right now." Nearly the entire class groaned in misery.

The class lined up and when it was Naruto's turn one of his classmates, Yamanaka Ino, commented on her opinion about this 'punishment'. "We're always getting in trouble for your screw ups, Naruto. You need to grow up." Naruto silently snorted at Ino's remark. '_Like a pathetic fangirl like you has the right to tell me to grow up_.' "Like I give a shit." Was Naruto's simple rebuttal. Eloquent, he was not.

Naruto was probably one of the only students at the Academy that knew even a little bit about the hardships of the shinobi lifestyle. The only one other than him that might have even the slightest clue would most likely be Uchiha Sasuke. The young Uchiha's clan had been slaughtered by his elder brother. Naruto had tried to befriend Sasuke, due to their similar experiences of losing their family or simply not having them, but he had been rebuffed at every turn by the Uchiha's cold attitude. Naruto eventually stopped trying to befriend the boy simply because it was becoming more trouble than it was worth.

When the Kyuubi heard about the Uchiha Clan Massacre, it was ecstatic. For reasons he didn't fully understand, the kitsune hated the 'clan of red-eyed bastards' as it called them.

"Ok Naruto you're up. And no tricks!" Iruka shouted. Sometimes Naruto screwed up the Henge simply to find out what a result of random ideas attached to an image could do to the result. One time, when he had transformed into the Sandaime Hokage he gave the elderly man a ridiculously small mouth and disproportionately huge lips. Added on to the incredibly skinny body and ridiculously oversized head and lack of eyes and nose made for a very disturbing image.

Naruto had to withhold a devious grin as he prepared to prank Iruka as payback for catching him before he was done messing with the shinobi in the village. "Oiroke no jutsu (Sexy Jutsu)!" Naruto shouted. And before Iruka could stop him a cloud of smoke enveloped the blond.

As the smoke began to clear, Iruka could make out the sight of an incredibly voluptuous blonde woman that was completely naked with smoke strategically placed to hide her "assets" and make the sight even more tantalizing. He couldn't handle the image of near perfection and flew back in a violent nosebleed.

Naruto dispelled his "unique" Henge and nearly fell to the floor laughing. "Oh Kami!" He gasped. "The look on your face was priceless!" He started laughing even harder as he saw Iruka stuffing his nose with some tissues.

"Cut out your stupid pranks!" Iruka shouted, trying to maintain whatever was left of his dignity, "This is your last warning!"

Naruto merely laughed harder. It was one of his favorite hobbies. Pranking whoever pissed him off helped him make sure he didn't kill or mutilate somebody too much while he was still weak, at least in comparison to most stronger shinobi. Based on what he knew about his skills he could most likely kill most Chunin and Genin, except for those who were misranked, and a majority of Rookie Jonin. The only thing that he lacked was true experience. However he wasn't satisfied with that. No, in order to kill the traitor responsible for his clan's demise he needed to at least be as strong as a Kage. He had done his research on Shimura Danzo as soon as he could and found out a lot about the man considered to be the Sandaime Hokage's contemporary. The Shinobi no Kami was only matched by the Shinobi no Yami in the history books he'd read, at least as far as Konoha shinobi went.

The man was a zealous patriot who would do anything for his village, but the methods of how he served Konoha were treasonous at best sometimes. If he had even the slightest possible thought of someone betraying Konoha, he would do all in his power to get rid of what he perceived to be a threat.

That was what Naruto figured the man had thought about his clan. In his paranoia, he feared that the Uzumaki clan would betray Konoha and so did what he thought would be a preemptive strike to eliminate them and get rid of the threat altogether. However with the lack of manpower necessary to take on one of the strongest clans in the world alone, he killed two birds with one stone and used the three villages that they were at war with to do his dirty work. The end result would be that the enemy villages were weakened and the clan that he feared would be gone or at least scattered. It was ingenious, twisted, but ingenious nonetheless. (3)

* * *

(Hokage Mountain – 5:53 pm – January 6 – 61 AVF)

Naruto grumbled as he started cleaning the lecherous grin off of the Yondaime's face. It was the last thing that he had to clean and then he could go back to his shithole of an apartment. It was comfortable to live in, but there was no way in hell he was going to spend the rest of his life in that dump. He was glad he had the foresight to use easily washable paint. It would have been a pain in the ass to clean otherwise.

"You're not going home until that disturbing thing is completely washed off of Yondaime-sama's face Naruto!" Iruka yelled from his supervising position above the Jinchuriki.

'_Bastard, he should know that no one will care if I'm home late anyway_.' Naruto's orphan status was a somewhat touchy subject for him. The Kyuubi hadn't told him much about his parents, but it said that it knew them, and told Naruto a little bit about them, but without giving any information that could help him figure out their identities. Kind of like the Sandaime Hokage.

The old man loved Naruto like a grandson, but he still wouldn't tell him who his parents were. He didn't lie and say he didn't know them because he probably guessed (correctly) that if Naruto found out otherwise the boy would never trust him again. He did roughly the same things that the kitsune did when he asked about his parents. He told him about them without giving away any important information, but without the same amount of cursing that the Kyuubi did and calling them by generally any insults that the fox could think up that let Naruto know _exactly_ what the kitsune thought of them. The Bijuu hated the majority of humans though so any effort on his part to divine who they were based on that would take him forever.

"So what, it's not like I have anyone waiting at home for me you bastard!" Naruto shouted. He really hated it if people brought up his orphan status. He didn't need any reminders thank you very much. He started scrubbing the monument even harder in his anger.

Iruka was slightly shocked at Naruto's anger before feeling contrite. He shouldn't have said that. Naruto very rarely got mad, but when he did he could _really_ hold a grudge if he wasn't quickly appeased with something he liked. Iruka did _so_ not want the Prince of Pranks coming after his ass for pissing him off.

Iruka once witnessed a shopkeeper throw Naruto out of his store and for the next week he had either mixed labels, his products were colored any bright neon color that one could think of, and many other horrible business ruining pranks that got progressively worse throughout the week. On the last day of the week the man was found dangling upside down outside of his store wearing only a woman's thong with a sign plastered on his face reading only one word. _Payback_.

Iruka knew that one of the things that Naruto loved was ramen and so he made a decision. "Say Naruto." When the boy looked up at him with a glare he knew he made the right choice. "How about if you finish up here soon, I treat you to some ramen at Ichiraku's? My treat. Whaddaya say?" Seeing the boy's face light up with a huge mischievous grin suddenly made his wallet feel a lot lighter for some reason.

When Naruto heard Iruka's offer he couldn't withhold his grin. This would be the perfect end for today. "Thanks Iruka-sensei. I'll finish up right now!" Suddenly Naruto seemed to be moving a whole lot faster than earlier. Almost like he was dragging his feet before.

* * *

(Ichiraku's Ramen Stand – 7:24 pm – January 6 – 61 AVF)

Iruka watched in horror as Naruto devoured ten large bowls of ramen in what amounted to be barely ten minutes.

Naruto sighed in happiness as he finished up his last bowl of ramen. This was one of his favorite parts of his "mask", shocking people with how much ramen he could eat. Because of his enhanced sense of taste, ramen and generally anything somewhat spicy and juicy was euphoric to his taste buds. It wasn't all that hard to eat that much food because of his increased metabolism as a result of being a Jinchuriki. Hell, when he was at home at night he sometimes had to eat even more food even if he ate four large meals throughout the day.

"Naruto, why would you desecrate the Hokage Monument like that?" Iruka questioned, hoping to keep Naruto from ordering anymore ramen. His paycheck couldn't take the beating. "Don't you know who the Hokage are?"

Naruto had to withhold a snort. Did the man really think he was that stupid? Of course he knew who they were. Hell, the Sandaime was like a pseudo-grandfather to him. "Of course I know who they are Iruka-sensei." Naruto mentally grimaced at what he had to say next. "The Hokage are the strongest shinobi, and they protect the whole village." That was bullshit. There were many powerful shinobi and not all of them were Kage. Just being a Kage didn't guarantee that they were the strongest shinobi.

"Then why would you do that to the Hokage's faces?" Iruka asked.

Naruto grinned widely. "I was giving my interpretation of who the Hokage were. For example the Shodaime Hokage, Senju Hashirama, well known for his Mokuton Ninjutsu, so I painted his face to look like it was made of wood. The Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama, was well known for his Suiton Ninjutsu and being the "baby" brother of the Shodaime, so I painted his face with water coming out of his eyes and mouth like a baby crying and drooling. The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, is known by the nickname "The Professor" for his knowledge so I painted his face to look like a scroll. The nosebleed was because I once found him reading Icha-Icha in his office. The Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, was the student of Jiraiya of the Sannin, who is well known to be a pervert. So I painted him to look somewhat like Jiraiya. The Yondaime is most well-known about his defeat of the Kyuubi twelve years ago so I painted a fox's face on his forehead." Naruto explained.

Iruka was shocked at how well thought out Naruto's prank actually was. If he applied that kind of dedication in the Academy he could have easily been Rookie of the Year instead of the Dead Last.

What Iruka didn't know was that Naruto considered the Academy to be a waste of time so he put barely any effort into it because it didn't interest him. Half the things that they teach at the Academy had absolutely no relevance on a battlefield and the things that they taught that did were barely touched upon at all.

Naruto's eyes shifted over to the owner of the ramen stand, Ichiraku Tuechi and noticed him carrying a small sheet of paper. "Well, bye Iruka-sensei. I need to get home to rest for the final exams tomorrow." Naruto said quickly and shot off away from the stand.

Iruka looked at the fading dust cloud that Naruto was leaving behind and wondered, '_Why did he just suddenly leave like that_?' "Excuse me sir, but here is your bill." Tuechi said, stifling a chuckle. He always found it amusing when Naruto tricked someone into paying for his ramen. As long as he got paid, he didn't really care where the money came from, and Naruto was always a faithful customer. It didn't hurt that when he ate he shared some very amusing stories with him and his daughter, Ayame, who was sadly sick today. Iruka cried in horror as he saw the bill. "Damn you, Naruto!" he shouted even though Naruto was no longer in earshot.

Naruto chuckled lightly as he got ready to go to sleep. Iruka had changed since he first came to the Academy. He no longer hated Naruto simply for being the cage that held the Kyuubi. He was steadily changing for the better and Naruto hoped that there was a chance that Iruka would be like some of the other shinobi that helped him.

* * *

**Author Note: Writing this chapter was somewhat annoying because I can't write freeform yet. My story has to somewhat adhere to the original storyline for it to work out like I want and that makes it somewhat hard to update quickly. I will try to update at least once a week, but I make no promises. I suddenly have a whole lot more respect for authors on here that make over ten thousand worded chapters in a week and actually have good quality.**

Terms/Jutsu Used/Mentioned

Oiroke no jutsu (Sexy Jutsu) - E-Rank, or SSS-Rank Forbidden Jutsu, Type: Support/Distraction. A Ninjutsu that transforms the user into an older, female version of themselves that is completely naked except for some smoke strategically placed to make the target want to see more. It is a transformation technique that is actually a true transformation in the fact that the user _actually_ transforms into a female version of themselves. It is a derivative of the Kage Henge (Shadow Transformation) that Naruto learned in place of, and prefers over, the Henge no jutsu (Transformation Jutsu). It envelops the user in a chakra shroud making the end result solid. It is an incredibly dangerous jutsu to use on perverts because they could end up hospitalized for massive blood loss. One of its nicknames is the Pervert Killer. One of the only people that could possibly resist it would be Jiraiya of the Sannin because of his nature as a Super Pervert. He has no shame and will not succumb to the same effects as lesser perverts.

(1)- Think Edward Elric.

(2)- I couldn't resist.

(3)- In case you're wondering, no Naruto didn't learn everything about Danzo like Root or his Cursed Seals from the history books he read. He just took the information about his betrayal of the Uzumaki clan and compared to what he learned about Danzo's personality based off of the information he gained from the books and came up with a reasonable hypothesis based on the results of said betrayal. No matter how Naruto may act in this story, he isn't the idiot he is in canon and can actually create a reasonable hypothesis about something based on the information he had learned or was given. However that doesn't mean he will always be correct. After all misinformation is the name of the game when it comes to shinobi.

**This is about the ranks that I posted in the last chapter. I'm going to give more specifics so that they are easier to understand. Academy Student was listed as Low-High E-Rank. They are basically barely better than the average civilian child. This is Sakura's level when she graduates the Academy in my story, Mid-High E-Rank. She is so ridiculously weak that the only reason she graduated is because of how the Academy has the written tests actually count for a large portion of the final score.**

**Genin was listed as Low D-Rank - Low C-Rank. Low-D Rank is Ino's level when she graduates the Academy in my story. The only reason she qualifies for this rank is because she knows one of her clan jutsu. Otherwise she would be the same rank as Sakura. Mid D-Rank is the level Shikamaru, Choji, and Hinata are when they graduate the Academy in this story. Shikamaru's intelligence makes him a higher rank than Ino and because he didn't spend nearly all his Academy days dieting, he is much more in shape than Ino. Choji is this rank because of the raw physical power that his clan's jutsu grants him and the fact that all Akimichi usually have greater physical strength. Hinata is this rank because, instead of spending her time training, she stalked Naruto and wasted her time when she could have been doing something productive. The only reason she is this rank is because of her clan's Taijutsu style and her Kekkai Genkai, otherwise she would be the same rank as Sakura. High D-Rank is the level of Kiba and Shino when they graduate from the Academy in this story. Because of how they trained themselves and their knowledge of their clan's techniques they are much better off than most of the Academy graduates.**

**Chunin was listed as Mid-C Rank to Mid B-Rank. Low-Mid C-Rank is Sasuke's rank when he graduates the Academy in this story. Mainly because ever since his clan's death he had been training himself obsessively to prepare himself to avenge his clan's murder. That's roughly five years of him constantly training himself. Low-Mid B-Rank Shinobi can fight any five or less High C-Rank or double that for lesser C-Rank Shinobi, but come out tired.**

**Rookie Jonin was listed as High B-Rank. Rookie Jonin is what Kurenai's current level is in this story. High B-Rank Shinobi can fight three Low-Mid B-Rank Shinobi and four or less C-Rank Shinobi.**

**Standard and Tokubetsu Jonin were listed as Low-Mid A-Rank. Tokubetsu Jonin are Mid-High A-Rank in their main specialty and are Low-Mid A-Rank in the other classifications. Standard Jonin are generally a jack of all trades and are generally Mid A-Rank in a majority of their skills. Low-Mid A-Rank Shinobi can fight at least three High B-Rank Shinobi, five Low-Mid B-Rank, and seven to ten any level of C-Rank Shinobi, and come out alive with possibly severe injuries. Low A-Rank is Naruto's current level in this story.**

**Elite Jonin and ANBU were listed as High A-Rank and Low S-Rank. Very few ever make it to S-Rank and the majority of Elite Jonin and ANBU are only A-Rank. An A-Rank Shinobi can fight six Low-Mid A-Rank, eight of any level of B-Rank, and at least fourteen of any level of C-Rank, come out alive, but completely exhausted. Low S-Rank Shinobi are shinobi that could possibly take over a small country on their own. Low-S Rank are one of the few ranks that could survive fighting a SS-Rank Shinobi and escape however they would develop incredibly severe and possibly life-threatening injuries from the confrontation. Low S-Rank Shinobi can fight at least five High A-Rank shinobi and an indeterminate amount of B and C-Rank Shinobi and come out without a scratch.**

**ANBU Captains and the ANBU Commander were listed as Mid S-Rank. There are only thirteen Captains in ANBU at any given time at most. The strongest Captain is given the dual responsibilities of being the Captain of their own division and being the Commander of the ANBU as a whole. If the ANBU Captains and the Commander were working together, they would have a very good chance of being able to take down a Low SS-Rank opponent, with very severe injuries and possible losses on their part. The ANBU Commander is stronger than all of the other Captains working together combined and can come out from fighting them with some serious injuries, but nothing life threatening. The ANBU Captains are each stronger than their whole division combined and can come out from fighting them with some serious injuries, but nothing life threatening.**

**ANBU Black Ops was listed as High S-Rank. These Shinobi are stronger than the entire ANBU force combined and can possibly single handedly annihilate multiple small countries. However these Shinobi are very few. The numbers of these shinobi throughout all of the Elemental Nations is very small, as in less than five per hidden village.**

**Kage, Sage, Bijuu, and Perfect Jinchuriki were listed as Low-High SS-Rank. Kage are the leaders of the Five Major Hidden Villages, and they range from Low-High SS-Rank. Kage are usually stronger than their entire normal shinobi force. A Sage is someone who is able to utilize Natural Energy and when they are in Sage Mode they are temporarily ranked at Low SS-Rank for the duration of the technique, regardless of their normal Rank. If a Sage was normally at Low SS-Rank, Sage Mode would temporarily make them Mid SS-Rank and for those who are normally Mid SS-Rank, Sage Mode would make them temporarily High SS-Rank. A Bijuu is High SS-Rank and unless one has a special ability or Kekkai Genkai suited to defeating or fighting one it would be simpler to seal it away into a Jinchuriki. Inside a Jinchuriki, unless they are a Perfect Jinchuriki, Bijuu are weakened severely even if the Jinchuriki can transform into their Bijuu. A Perfect Jinchuriki is able to freely utilize their Bijuu's power in any way they can think of without any negative side-effects. This makes Perfect Jinchuriki High SS-Rank when they are at their strongest.**

**Anyway I hope this cleared everything up about the Rankings for my story.**

**Review Would You Kindly,**

**Draconias Over and Out.**


	3. Chapter 2: The End of Academy Days

"I want to become the greatest Hokage, Dattebayo."- Normal Talking

'_Ugh. I can't believe I actually said that without puking_.'-_ Normal Thoughts_

"_Hey, do I have to keep acting like this, Kyuubi-sensei_?"- Telepathic Conversation

"**If you want to ruin years' worth of planning, go ahead and stop acting like a dumbass you brat**."- Speech of a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

'**_Ugh. I swear, if this brat wasn't my student, I would have devoured him ten times over for having to act like such a_ _fool_**.'- Thoughts of a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

"**_At least your Jinchuriki is sane_**." Telepathic Conversation between Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)"- Technique being used

"**Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)**"- Technique being used by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

'_Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)_'- Technique being subvocalized

'**_Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)_**'- Technique being subvocalized by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

"_Fuin_!" Seal being used

"**_Fuin_**!" Seal being used by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

'_Fuin_!' Seal being subvocalized

'**_Fuin_**!' Seal being subvocalized by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

**Review Replies**

**ExtendedCow**-No Naruto doesn't actually want to be Hokage, it's just his mask, and no one knows anything about the fact that he found out anything about his clan. The bonds Naruto has made with the few shinobi that cared for him are purely familial in nature and no, none of them have trained Naruto in anything other than basic things. They usually treated him as there little brother, hence Kakashi being called aniki which means elder brother. They cared for him and took care of him as much as their profession allowed and, because of being shinobi, that isn't much, but they still did what they could. This doesn't mean they won't train Naruto. It's just that, because he was a little kid, they didn't want to accidentally hurt him. But some offered to teach him if/when he became a Genin. It wasn't manipulation to make him become a shinobi of the village; they just wanted him to be able to access more resources than he would normally be able to as a civilian. That way they could help him better. What they don't know is that Naruto has been training alone since he learned about his clan. No one, not even the Sandaime Hokage, his pseudo-grandfather, know about his secret training. They know that he doesn't put all of his effort into the Academy, but they don't know just how strong he is. They are somewhat aware of his mask, they are shinobi after all, but they aren't sure just how much of his attitude is one. Most others don't care enough about him to really try and learn who he really is and so they dismiss him. His pseudo-family care deeply for him so they are able to somewhat see through it, but they still don't know what is his mask exactly because of how he mixes his normal personality with his masks' and that makes it somewhat difficult to distinguish just where the "Mask-Naruto" ends and where the "True-Naruto" begins. Hope that cleared everything up for you.

**AbZHz101**- First off, thank you for not writing your review as a flame, otherwise I would have never even bothered writing this sentence. Second, don't worry. It's not merely an Assassin's Creed/Naruto Crossover; it's partially my take on how the ideals of the Assassins would affect the Naruto world. Altair once said that even if the Assassins were vanquished, someone else would take up their ideals eventually. I think Haytham Kenway once said something similar about the Templar's ideals as well. If you think about it, Tobi/Obito's and Madara's endgame sounds very Templar-like. Using an illusion to control the world and all. (Plus what's wrong with Assassins Creed, they're one of my favorite game series.) If you stick to this story until the end, I promise everything will be explained. I have an awesome end in mind, but first I have to get there first, which can be very annoying. I already have some of the middle and the very end planned out in my head, but it's going to be a long road to get there. (Hint, Hint. This Naruto World's history is far larger than you would think.) Next, about the Kyuubi. If you look on the wiki it actually calls Kurama an it. On the wiki it also says that the Kyuubi uses (_Washi_), which is usually a term used by elderly men, when speaking about itself, but that's the manga/anime's interpretation and this is a fanfiction. I'm still not entirely certain on the gender I want to use so I'm being ambiguous, but it will be my decision alone. I won't make a poll because I feel that, unless it's asking what the readers would like to read next, polls interfere with an author's creative thinking and dulls it sometimes. That doesn't mean I don't like polls, it's just I won't use them myself. I don't really like that, in some stories, ever since the names of the Bijuu have been revealed, the Bijuu automatically reveal their names to their hosts without even getting to know what kind of person they are and/or will become, so I agree with you on the subject of the Kyuubi's name. Also don't worry; it won't be word for word because my Naruto's responses will be different, thus gaining different responses from other people. His relationship with his pseudo-family will be given detail eventually, but not yet. It's still only the beginning of the story after all. Also about Naruto's skills, even though his skill level is somewhere around Low A-Rank it doesn't mean he'll be able to beat someone of the same level with more experience. He may win because of being underestimated, but his lack of experience is a very big flaw. It will eventually disappear when he begins to gain experience, but that doesn't mean he will win all of his fights. That's merely an estimation of his current skill level. Not an indication of how well he would actually be able to fight. Not everything is as it seems though so his skill level will have begun to grow by a pretty large margin by the time the Chunin Exams come around.

Finally, about your last statement. It would be hilarious if that were true, but no because of how volatile the "Full Tailed Beast State", as you called it, is, it would be very difficult to combine the two. It can be done, but the state wouldn't be able to be used long because of how exhausting it would be to maintain both states at once. Combining the two was actually a thought of mine when I was writing my explanation and I may use it near the end of this story, but like all techniques in my story (Yes even the Edo Tensei. It kind of pissed me off with how overpowered it was in the manga, but in my story it will have drawbacks. Major drawbacks.) It will have weaknesses. Such as how taxing it would be on the mind and body and things like that. Plus the rank would still be High SS-Rank just with probably enough power to destroy a small continent. Thanks for ending your review with that joke; it really gave me a good laugh. I hope this explained everything to your satisfaction and I hope that you continue reading this story.

**Shooter375**- Your welcome and don't worry about asking too many questions. As long as they aren't useless questions (i.e. something that could be easily answered by simply rereading the chapter) I have no problem with answering them as long as it won't spoil anything too much.

Now the first thing I would have to say is that the Naruto in canon is an idiot, plain and simple. Also the level I would say he would be at after the timeskip would be probably Low-Mid B-Rank before his elemental manipulation training and then after that it would be High B-Rank.

Sasuke after the time-skip was Mid-High A-Rank (without his Sharingan) and was Low-S Rank (with his Sharingan). Because of how the Sharingan alters the user's perception, it can seemingly alter the user's skill-level, when in reality they are just perceiving and reacting much faster than they would be able to without it. His Kirin technique however is a SS-Rank technique simply because so few people would ever be able to dodge a bolt of _pure lightning_.

There will be a pairing eventually, let me make this clear right now. **THERE WILL BE NO NARUHINA, NARUSAKU, OR YAOI**. If you want to see my reasons for this go to my profile and you will see why I hate those pairings. Also, I have no problem with other people writing or reading Yaoi, but it is just not my thing. The pairing I choose will be made by me and me alone. I already have an idea where this story will go and I already have a few pairings in mind so there will be no voting polls or me asking for reviews for what the readers wants. If I get any reviews that are solely asking me about pairings that they want I will not respond to them because it will be my decision and mine alone.

Sorry about the rant, but I just find it plain unimaginative if an author has to ask what their readers want to come up with a decision on a pairing. Anyway, the Akatsuki member's ranks will be listed when they appear in my story so I don't end up giving too much away.

Enjoy the story

**Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The End of Academy Days**

* * *

(Naruto's Apartment - 7:30 am - January 7 - 61 AVF)

Naruto rolled over in his sleep to try and keep the morning sun from getting into his eyes. '_Wait its morning?'_ Naruto thought groggily to himself. "Oh Shit! I'm going to be late!" Naruto had forgotten that he completely destroyed his alarm clock the previous morning. He rushed through his morning routine in ten minutes flat, but he decided to skip the shower, he was already wide awake anyway, and rushed out of his apartment and towards Konohagakure's Shinobi Academy. "_Hey Kyuubi-sensei, why the hell didn't you wake me up_?!" Naruto yelled mentally towards his inner-kitsune. (1) He could usually trust the fox to wake him up at dawn, or earlier on training days when he had pissed the Bijuu off the day before, in order to go through his morning workout. A workout that most people would consider a full day of training. Damn sadistic fox. Because of how the Academy cut into his training when he first began going there, the Kyuubi had doubled his morning workout and earned the title of "Slave Driver-Sensei" in Naruto's mind.

All Naruto heard in response to his query was a loud snore that echoed in the back of his head. He sweatdropped as he realized that the reason the Kyuubi hadn't woken him up was because it was still asleep. Honestly, sometimes the fox seemed even lazier than Shikamaru and that was saying something. Shikamaru once said to Iruka-sensei that he would have slept with his eyes open to fake being awake in class if it wasn't so troublesome to do so. Being lazier than that sloth was a scary thought as well as a huge accomplishment.

As Naruto sprinted towards the Academy, he mentally debated to himself about the pros and cons of waking up his sensei. On one hand Naruto somewhat enjoyed their conversations when he had to deal with his fellow Academy students because the Bijuu was far more interesting than his so called peers at the Academy. On the other hand, the last time that Naruto had woken the Bijuu up he had the single most brutal training lesson of his life. He quickly decided, as he arrived at the Academy with barely a few minutes to spare, that the eventually training session (see: torture) wouldn't be worth a nice conversation with his teacher.

The fox was usually groggy and irritable when it first woke up anyway, so it wasn't like he was going to get a riveting conversationalist that quickly anyway. If the kitsune woke up on its own, it would be far more agreeable much quicker, but if he woke it up, he would have just signed himself up for a world of pain and agony.

There were far more, less painful, ways of committing suicide. Going into the Forest of Death for a few months with absolutely no tools of survival for example. The one time he went in there for training, he probably would have died if Anko hadn't saved his ass. He had no idea that some plants could be considered predators, but that forest took all of the natural laws of the world and threw them in the incinerator, one by one.

Naruto sighed to himself as he made it to Iruka's classroom with only a few seconds to spare. '_I'll just wait for sensei to wake up. In the meantime, I have to deal with a bunch of morons_.' Naruto sighed, this time in slight despair. '_Oh joy_.' He thought to himself sarcastically. Naruto mentally braced himself as he went into the metaphorical lion's den.

* * *

(Konohagakure Shinobi Academy – 8:00 am – January 7 – 61 AVF)

Iruka sighed as he watched some of his students brag about how they would ace the Academy exams while he sat next to his friend and assistant teacher, Touji Mizuki. Mizuki had a lighter tan than Iruka and had white hair that was parted around his forehead revealing the Konoha headband that was proudly displayed on his forehead. He wore the same clothing that Iruka did, consisting of a dark blue shirt and pants that were taped around the ankle to prevent snagging and a light green utility vest that all Chunin and Jonin wore.

Iruka knew that the likelihood of all of them actually passing these exams were rather high, but the likelihood of them actually becoming good shinobi was very low. The Academy's curriculum had really gone downhill in the last twelve years. It actually made Iruka somewhat angry at the Civilian Council for changing the curriculum while the Sandaime was dealing with the aftermath and fallout of the Kyuubi attack. They ended up creating subpar shinobi solely because the Civilian Council wanted to make it easier for their children to pass and so their family could gain more prestige. The tests wouldn't be able to be changed back to their original, and more complicated, form until the entire village coffers had been refilled, which would only come to pass in two more years with the current rate of pay. And the only reason Iruka new this much was because the Hokage explained to him why the Academy curriculum was so different from when he was a student when he became a teacher.

The only ones that knew about what happened to the curriculum were the shinobi observant enough to notice, those who cared enough to notice, the Shinobi Council, and those who were actually teachers at the Academy. The teachers were informed so that they could nip any potential problems, i.e. the children of the Civilian Council, in the bud. However, unfortunately, potential problems still managed to slip through the cracks in those plans. The most prevalent being fangirls. Those who were pathetic excuses for kunoichi and generally only had plans to be saved by the boy of their dreams and make them fall madly in love with them and have their babies.

Because of all of the damages, and necessary repairs needed after the Kyuubi attack, the civilian council ended up gaining more power than they should have been allowed in order to help properly manage all the funds, because the Hokage was only one person and there was no way he would be able to direct all of that money to _everywhere_ it was needed while commanding his shinobi throughout the world.

The civilian council the was made up of the leaders of all the merchant guilds that ran the majority of stores in Konoha and throughout Hi no Kuni and they would help regulate the income and fund the village's economy and if necessary, any repairs to the village.

It was a sound idea in theory, but in practice not so much. They were very greedy and were always looking for ways to gain more money, prestige, and power. Having their children become shinobi would help them quite a lot because their families would gain a large amount of prestige in the event that their children became famous shinobi which would in turn give them more political clout.

Normally they had no say in shinobi affairs, but ever since the Kyuubi attack they had been trying to entrench themselves deep inside the village politics and make sure that they would be unable to be removed from said affairs. Luckily the Sandaime managed to prevent that from happening for the past twelve years, but they still had a larger amount of power than they would normally be allowed until they were paid back in full from the money that the village borrowed to fund the repairs necessary for the village after the Kyuubi attack, which would be completed in two more years.

Luckily, for the Hokage at least, the majority of the Civilian Council's children failed their Jonin-sensei's exams, even if they did pass the Academy exams, because of how weak they were. There was a reason why they had never passed the original exams in the first place. They were incapable of being good shinobi because of their arrogance and/or outright refusal to cooperate with many of their peers. The rest ended up becoming and staying Genin for pretty much the rest of their lives or dying.

The only stores that the merchant guilds didn't own were the shinobi stores that catered to the needs of all the shinobi in the village. The shinobi would never trust civilians to craft their weapons or clothing or any other items that were required for their survival and daily use. The things that shinobi used appeared to be simple and easy to craft, but in reality they were far more complex than their initial appearance would give credit for.

The clothing of the shinobi was meant to be incredibly strong and durable and their weaponry was made to last by a village that was well-known for their excellent forging skills. Said village was usually an unfortunate target during the Shinobi Wars due to their skills as well.

However, it would have been foolish to simply import all of the materials from a single place and because of that every shinobi village had their own special forging techniques, as well as a large amount of the materials necessary to create and repair weapons, that were used and taught by retired shinobi who decided to become blacksmiths. The retired shinobi that ran these stores were usually very skilled at creating and repairing weapons because weapons usage was usually what they preferred to utilize when they were active shinobi.

Honestly Iruka didn't have much hope for many of his students. The only ones that he felt could become good shinobi were Inuzuka Kiba, if his Jonin-sensei beat the arrogance out of him, Aburame Shino, because of his good control over his emotions like all Aburame, Hyuuga Hinata, if her sensei could help her get over her crippling self-confidence issues that he suspected might have something to do with her father, Nara Shikamaru, if his sensei could give him some proper motivation, Akimichi Choji, with his clan's powerful physical strength, Yamanaka Ino, if her sensei could beat the fangirl out of her, Haruno Sakura, if her sensei could eliminate her fangirl tendencies towards the Uchiha and assist the girl with her near perfect chakra control, and Uchiha Sasuke, if his sensei could help the boy utilize his hatred for more positive ends. And most recently, Uzumaki Naruto made his way onto the list of the few students that Iruka had hope for with his surprising and cunning nature from being a prankster and his surprising amount of logical thinking that Iruka hadn't thought the boy capable of and had only discovered yesterday. It was sad that the list of the students that Iruka had hopes for was filled with arrogant blowhards, lazy asses, fangirls, and psychological wrecks. He truly feared for the future if they didn't improve and change themselves for the better.

The door to the classroom was suddenly slammed open as Naruto walked into the classroom with a big grin on his face and shouted, "Alright give me your best shot Iruka-sensei I'll ace this test!" Iruka sighed slightly to himself at Naruto's boisterous attitude, missing Mizuki's hate filled glare directed at the Uzumaki. If Naruto hadn't explained to him the intricacies behind his prank the previous day, he truly would have thought the boy was as dumb as a post. Now, though, he truly thought that Naruto could ace these exams easily. Speaking of that prank, "Naruto we'll have to talk about what you did yesterday, understand?" He still had to pay Naruto back for the stunt at the ramen bar last night. It had almost completely cleaned out his wallet.

Outwardly Naruto gulped while some of his classmates snickered at what they thought was him getting even more punishment for his prank yesterday. Naruto figured it was most likely about making Iruka foot the bill for his enormous amount of ramen consumption the previous night.

Inwardly, though, was a different story. He hadn't missed Mizuki glare in his direction when he walked through the door. Something seemed off about the assistant today, and not just because he hated Naruto. The young Uzumaki knew that some teachers disliked him for his pranks, i.e. Iruka, and others hated him for being the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, i.e. Mizuki. Unfortunately, he had a hard time differentiating between who hated him for what because he didn't directly interact with many of the other teachers at the Academy aside from those two.

He knew that the assistant teacher hated him, but he had never been so blatant about his hatred by directly glaring at him before. He was usually far more subtle and focused mainly on putting Genjutsu on his written tests to make him fail or assigning him alternate exercises for the Academy Taijutsu style claiming that they would help him become a Hokage faster and giving him blunted and damaged kunai and shuriken for the accuracy tests, things to that nature.

The exercises would actually teach him the worst possible stances and make him leave himself wide open to a bunch of possibly fatal or crippling attacks from someone who was a higher level than him. Which, if the man had his way, would have been everyone in the Academy.

Mizuki actually helped him maintain his idiot façade more than Naruto liked to admit, and because of all the things the man did to try and stunt his growth, it made it far easier for Naruto to act like a fool because he wouldn't have to plan how to fail his tests or to mess up his physical assignments. Trying to fail was actually harder than trying to pass when you knew all the answers.

Still, something just felt fundamentally _wrong_ with the man today. He would have to check that because, even when he didn't use his Eagle Vision, as he learned his sixth sense was called, he had a knack for just _knowing_ when something wasn't right. And he always listened to that feeling. The one time he didn't was when he had thought it would be a good idea to train in the Forest of Death. That was not one of his smarter moments.

Naruto just chuckled nervously and replied to Iruka, "Yeah sure thing sensei, I understand." He would have to be subtle about how he tried to figure what was off about the other teacher. He hoped that he wouldn't have to fail to figure that out, but if it was necessary, Naruto would do anything to confirm his suspicions. He was just severely disturbed by the aura the man was giving off. It was so subtle that if he didn't have his enhanced senses, he was positive he would have missed it. He swore to himself though, if he was wrong there was no way in hell that he would repeat the Academy another year.

He would probably have to speak to Sarutobi-jiji if that happened. The man would most likely understand if Naruto said that he was listening to his instincts. For shinobi, that was almost always a valuable trait.

Naruto walked to his usual seat near the center of the class and sat down next to Shikamaru. The young Nara, knew that he was hiding something and told him as such, but said that "It would be too troublesome to pry. So you can tell me on your own when you're ready. Even though I'm pretty sure that would be troublesome." The two of them actually got along pretty well after that and when Naruto would find the young boy cloud watching, on his cool down days when he didn't train and let his body rest and recuperate, they would sometimes play a game of shogi. Currently they were tied with each of them having equal wins and equal losses.

Naruto, because of the complex and creative thinking necessary to understand the complexity of Fuinjutsu, was able to process a large amount of information quickly and accurately. His perception was very good when it came to combining individual "pieces" into a complete whole which was basically what shogi required you to do with all of the strategy necessary to play.(2) Unfortunately, this tended to make him incredibly bored with things that didn't interest him because of how fast his mind was moving. To him everything else was moving at a snail's pace.

Shikamaru, because of his large IQ as a result of being a member of the Nara clan, was very good at strategizing and planning out all of his moves well in advance. This was the reason why the majority of the Nara clan was so lazy. They could plan so far ahead that most of the time they were bored very easily and things became very predictable to them. It was similar to Naruto's mind only instead of becoming hyperactive to deal with all of the thoughts running through their minds, they preferred to relax and just let their thoughts drift from thought to thought, like a cloud.

This made their shogi matches very interesting to the two of them because of how alike the way they thought was. The games were always very close and they had to be very careful to not make the slightest mistake or the other would capitalize on it and claim victory.

As Naruto sat down next to his friend, Shikamaru asked quietly, "So what did you do to Iruka-sensei Naruto?" The Nara genius knew that the Uzumaki had already been punished for painting the Hokage Monument, as the entire thing was cleaned before sunset. He guessed that he was probably the only one in the class that could see the ingenuity displayed in the prank and how it comically displayed all of the traits of the leaders of the village, albeit in not the most flattering way.

Naruto chuckled quietly as to not draw any attention to the two of them conversing while Iruka gave out his standard "good luck" speech before preparing to hand out the written exam along with Mizuki. "I left him to pay the bill for ten large bowls of ramen at Ichiraku's last night." Shikamaru chuckled quietly at the Academy teacher's misfortune. The poor man must have been cleaned out from paying for that much ramen. You never get in the way and try to stop him when Naruto was in the middle of a prank unless you want him to come after you for ruining his fun. It would be far simpler to just let him complete his prank; than it would be to stop him and have him pay you back for it. Far less problems for you that way and you won't have to deal with the Prince of Pranks coming after you for payback.

The two of them halted their conversation while they were handed their written tests by Mizuki. They both knew that talking during the test was absolutely forbidden and would make them immediately fail because it would be assumed that they were cheating even if they actually weren't. The only exceptions were when a student had a question for the teacher or if they had to go to the bathroom.

Naruto sighed as he noticed a strong, compared to the previous ones that Mizuki used at least, Genjutsu on his test that a normal Academy student would never have noticed because of its subtlety. It switched all the questions around and slightly altered the wording in trick questions and gave off almost no chakra signature. If he hadn't expected something like this he would have had a hard time noticing such a subtle ploy. It looked like Mizuki was trying to fail him again, but obviously with a hidden motive this time around, because he had never used a Genjutsu this strong before.

His usual Genjutsu mainly just switched a few of the questions around a little bit and the amount of questions switched was only enough to make him fail.

It was still a fairly low ranked illusion, but it was stronger than what the man normally used. It looked like he would have to intentionally fail to discover what the Academy assistant was up to. He could already tell that it was going to be, as his friend would say, troublesome.

* * *

(Konohagakure Shinobi Academy – 8:17 am – January 7 – 61 AVF)

As Naruto was close to twenty minutes into the hour long test, he heard a comfortable yawn echo in the back of his mind that made him smile slightly. "_Enjoy your, ah, fox nap, Kyuubi-sensei_?" Naruto asked sarcastically. "**Why yes, yes I did. Thanks for asking.**" The Kyuubi replied with equal sarcasm as it stretched out like a cat inside the child's mindscape. Naruto's eye twitched, before he sighed.

Getting into a verbal sparring match with the fox-like Bijuu was probably one of his stupider habits, but for some reason, he enjoyed these verbal competitions because it helped relieve his boredom when he had to deal with the stupidity of the village and the Academy.

"_Anyway, could you check on Mizuki's emotions for me_?" Naruto asked the kitsune, "_Something feels off about him today, but I just can't put my finger on it_." When Naruto learned that the fox had the ability to feel the negative emotions of people he was really curious at first. It had turned out to be a massive boon when Naruto was unable to use his Eagle Vision to tell if someone had negative intentions toward him.

It wasn't exactly subtle when he used his Eagle Vision to 'see' something because his eyes flashed gold for a split second before going back to blue. The flash was quick, but noticeable if he was in somebodies line of sight and he wanted to keep the fact that he had it quiet for as long as possible. It had been a pain trying to train his eyes to only flash gold for a split second instead of outright turning gold completely, but he had succeeded after entire years of training to do so.

The fact that he managed to keep so many things secret in a shinobi village, despite being around high-level shinobi on a daily basis honestly surprised him. Secrets in a shinobi village almost never lasted very long as secrets and he had managed to keep a relatively large number of them for roughly seven years and counting.

Oh he knew that his pseudo-family had probably figured out that he wore a 'mask' a while ago. They were the only ones that really seemed to try and get to know him after all.

Although, it was somewhat appalling how unobservant some shinobi were when it came to him. He supposed it was because he drew so much attention to himself as a prankster that people probably thought he would never be able to keep a secret because he would most likely never be able to resist telling somebody. Honestly, despite being in a shinobi village it seemed that plenty of people barely looked under the surface of what they were shown.

The Kyuubi snorted lightly before acquiescing to its containers request. It took a good amount of concentration on the Bijuu's part to perceive anything on the outside world with its own senses because of how it was connected to Naruto's. It would have to first lower their connection to almost nothing and then slowly stretch out its own senses past its Jinchuriki. If the kitsune had tried to do it while still connected to Naruto's senses the boy would have been completely overwhelmed by the sensory overload. A human was never meant to be able to share senses with a yokai after all.

The Kyuubi hummed to itself in thought. Mizuki _did_ have an odd feel about him. So it wasn't just its container being paranoid. '**_Now, let's go a little deeper_**.' The Bijuu thought to itself. The way the fox sensed emotions for singular targets had a few steps. First was the initial observation. It allowed the Kyuubi to get a general feel for the person and it also let it gain a minor insight to the individual's personality.

Anything that a person didn't normally feel was reflected in this step. For example, a person doesn't normally feel anger or fear at all times and if those or other extreme feelings were reflected by that initial step in a setting that was not supposed to inspire those emotions that would mean that something abnormal was making the person feel that way.

Mizuki was currently harboring quite a large amount of hatred for its Jinchuriki, which was relatively normal in his case, but he was also feeling quite afraid about something as well. Normally, he didn't feel any kind of fear, at least when Naruto was around, so this was somewhat odd. There was also the fact that something on one of his arms that was covered by his sleeves was radiating a completely different chakra signature than the white-haired man. It was far more cold and twisted than the assistant's own. It was as if someone had implanted a piece of their own chakra into the man. Very odd indeed.

The second step of the process was direct insight. This step was used by the Kyuubi to see the true motives of an individual and would reveal any deceptions that were used to try to disguise it. It wouldn't reveal any actual thoughts, but it would reveal whether or not the person had any hidden goals and whether or not those motives had any malicious intent, directed towards it or its host, hidden within them.

Unfortunately the Bijuu was unable to use its third step because it was sealed. However the second step was more than enough for the Kyuubi to ascertain that the motives of Mizuki were indeed filled with ill intentions toward its container. '**_The human seems to want to use the brat for something, something that he fears to do by himself, and also appears to want to kill him after using him_**.' The Kyuubi theorized based on the emotions it sensed from the Academy teaching assistant. It wasn't able to guess at what the man was thinking exactly, but it could definitely tell that he planned to use Naruto for something and then discard him.

"**The fool plans to use you to accomplish something that he is afraid to do on his own, but he also plans to kill you at first opportunity**." The Kyuubi told its container. That should be enough information for its container to work on. Meanwhile it would have to try and figure out what the other chakra signature attached to the man's arm meant.

Naruto internally sighed to himself as he continued to answer the written test in the outside world. He snuck a glance at the assistant. "_Damn it. It looks like I need to fail this stupid exam in order to figure out what Mizuki-teme has planned_." Naruto sighed again. It sucked when he was right sometimes. Oh well, nothing more to do than to go through with his crazy idea.

* * *

(Konohagakure Shinobi Academy – 2:47 pm – January 7 – 61 AVF)

Naruto was prepared to go through with his plan mentally, but when he began hearing jeers and taunts from his classmates during the so-called physical examinations he was hard pressed to keep his temper in check. It was harder than he thought to stick to his plan and he almost slipped up a few times during the Taijutsu examinations. He dodged some strikes that he wasn't supposed to be able to at his supposed skill-level, but he had managed to cover it up as dumb luck. He loved being underestimated sometimes.

"Ok Naruto, all you need to do is make three clones and you pass the exam." Iruka told the orange-clad Uzumaki. '_Good luck Naruto_.' The man thought to himself. Honestly, something was wrong with his student today. It seemed like he would definitely be able to pass the day before, but for some reason he almost completely failed every single test. If the boy couldn't make three clones he would have to fail the young boy and Iruka really wasn't looking forward to that possibility.

Naruto knew that he would be unable to make the required number of clones because the amount of chakra necessary to create that many with the Bunshin no jutsu (Clone Jutsu) was so miniscule that it was virtually impossible for him to use that little chakra. He simply didn't have the control necessary to do so yet. He would eventually, but for now his clones, "Bunshin no jutsu (Clone Jutsu)." Naruto intoned quietly, would come out looking like half-dead wrecks. There was a relatively large explosion of smoke around the blond boy and on his right and left were two clones that looked like they would keel over any second.

Naruto place a slightly sheepish look on his face to cover up his anger at having to fail the stupid graduation exam. "You fail Naruto!" Iruka shouted at the blond with a twitching vein on his forehead. Iruka hated it when he had to fail good students. "Hey Iruka," Mizuki cut in, "He did manage to create two clones so maybe you should pass him."

Naruto looked at the white haired man suspiciously masking it with a hopeful expression on his whiskered face. '_So that's his game then?_' Naruto thought to himself, '_He's pretending to be sympathetic to me to get me to listen to him when he tries to goad me into doing his dirty work._' Naruto snorted quietly to himself. That ploy would have only worked if he was as stupid as he acted.

"Mizuki, you know I would like to pass him, but the test requires three fully functioning clones and Naruto only created two." Iruka sighed. "And look at them, they look pitiful." He honestly hated this part of his job. Failing any of his students left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Naruto looked disappointed when Iruka looked at the boy and he felt even worse when he saw the young Uzumaki walk sullenly out of the classroom.

* * *

(Konohagakure Shinobi Academy – 3:00 pm – January 7 – 61 AVF)

Naruto sat sullenly on the swing that was placed on the tree in front of the Academy as he watched all of the students get congratulated by their families and friends. He heard two women talk about how he was the only one who failed and how they were glad that the 'demon brat' was never going to become a shinobi.

They were whispering, but with his enhanced senses he heard every word. He knew that they weren't worth his thoughts or time because they didn't even try to get to know him before labeling him, but it still hurt to be labeled and treated like a pariah. He sometimes wished that his family was still alive so that they could care for him like all the families he's seen care for their kids, but they were dead and nothing would change that fact. No matter how much he wished otherwise.

Naruto turned his head slightly and saw Mizuki walk toward him. "Hey Naruto, come walk with me." Naruto knew that this man wasn't to be trusted because of the look in his eyes. Naruto had become very good at learning people's true intentions from their eyes, but it was still somewhat difficult to accurately judge their intentions sometimes. However at this moment, Mizuki's eyes reflected concealed malice and hatred as well as a large amount of greed past this thin veneer of kindness he was putting up.

Naruto followed the white haired man as he walked through the crowds of people going about their everyday lives. He ignored the glares some of the shopkeepers and civilians sent him, but he was glad to notice that not many even deigned to look at him. He honestly preferred to be ignored to being hated and he was glad that some people just didn't care enough to glare at him or talk behind his back.

As they got to Mizuki's destination, which was a rooftop on a relatively small apartment building, Naruto sat with his back against the bars of the railing that prevented anyone from accidentally falling off of the roof if they were civilians while Mizuki hopped up and leisurely sat on top of it. "Naruto, you know Iruka doesn't hate you. It's just that you remind him of himself when he was your age. He wants you to be prepared for the life and hardships of being a shinobi."

As Naruto listened to Mizuki try to butter him up he inwardly snorted. This man was obviously trying to get him on his side for something. Naruto put on a perfectly sullen face and replied, "Yeah I guess. It's just that I really wanted to graduate."

Mizuki let out a slightly sinister chuckle. "Well then I guess I just have to tell you don't I?" Naruto looked at the Academy teaching assistant with a hopeful look on his face. "What, what do you have to tell me?" The Uzumaki asked eagerly.

Naruto enjoyed the flash of triumph that flashed through Mizuki's eyes. He would enjoy depriving the man of his delusions. "There is a secret test that is allowed to be taken if there are an uneven number of graduates in the Academy graduation class." As Mizuki told Naruto about the supposedly secret test he instantly knew that the man was a traitor.

After all, why else would he ask Naruto to steal the Forbidden Scroll?

Naruto agreed and went to his apartment to review the information that the man had given him about the guard rotations and the scrolls location. No wonder the man was so fearful today. If it was discovered that Mizuki had this information he would no doubt have been taken in by ANBU to figure out what other secret information he had stolen.

* * *

(Hokage Tower Secret Vault – 10:00 pm – January 7 – 61 AVF)

In the secret vault of the Hokage Tower everything was silent, when all of a sudden the air vent above the room suddenly popped off. An arm covered in a dark blue sleeve snaked out quickly and grabbed the metal grate before it could alert the guards with a crash. As the arm caught the cover, the sound of grunting could be heard from the air shaft. A figure crawled out revealing them to be almost completely covered in dark blue clothing.

The mysterious figure wore dark blue ANBU pants that were taped around their ankles with similarly colored tape. Their sandals had toe covers placed over the usually open toed sandals that hid the figures feet. On their upper torso was a zipped up hoodie that was the same color of the pants and had the hood pulled up revealing only the figures lower mouth, where, if one looked closely, whisker marks on each cheek could be seen revealing the mysterious figure to be Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto crawled as silently as he could out of the air shaft and held onto the vent with his right hand while he dangled precariously over the ground. He knew that one misstep would leave him with broken legs at the very least as he slowly used his left arm to lift the grate cover above his head. As soon as he placed the cover safely back into the vent without making a sound he swung his legs up and grabbed onto the air shaft with his legs as quietly as possible. He carefully let go with his right hand that was holding onto the shaft and dangled upside-down holding on with his leg strength alone. '_Now here comes the hard part_.' He thought to himself. One mistake would be fatal for even him if he fell right now. He carefully lifted himself up as he reached inside the vent to grab the cover. As he got a hold of it, he began carefully reattaching the cover to the ventilation shaft. It took him a few minutes to properly reattach the grate cover, but when it was done he had to resist the urge to sigh in relief.

He knew that Mizuki had given him the information he had gained on the rotation of the guard, but he knew that information was most likely gained hastily and was thus unreliable. So instead of using the information he gained from that traitor he used the ventilation system to get to the Vault, as he had heard it called by some of his pseudo-family.

The Vault was a room in the Hokage Tower that held a large amount of information that was gained by Konoha. It held from anything like enemy movements during wartime to techniques learned or stolen from other hidden villages. It was a veritable goldmine of information and one of the greatest items hidden inside the Vault was none other than the Forbidden Scroll. It held all of Konoha's Forbidden techniques. Techniques that were either basically suicidal to use or highly unethical even by shinobi standards. The Vault was the single, most well-guarded room in the entire village bar the Hokage's own home.

Naruto hated to admit it, but if he hadn't been as short or flexible as he was he would have never been able to use the ventilation system to get into the room. '_Wait, did I just call myself short?_' Naruto shook his head. He couldn't afford to freak out right now. No he wasn't short; everyone else was just freakishly tall. Yeah that's it.

Denial is such a wonderful thing.

Naruto reached up above his legs to once again grab onto the vent with his hands. Once he had his balance Naruto let go of the ventilation shaft.

He braced his leg muscles as he fell towards the ground. If he messed up this landing it was going to hurt like hell. As soon as his feet touched the ground Naruto bent his knees to absorb the impact and rolled forward to get rid of the extra momentum from his temporary flight.

Naruto took off his hood covering his bright blond hair as he looked around the room. This was it. He just had to find the Forbidden Scroll and get to the meeting place, and then he would be able to expose Mizuki for the traitor that he was. But at the moment he had to get rid of his dark ensemble.

If he was discovered in this room dressed like a thief he would be taken out before he could get a word in edgewise. However if he was noticed in his trademark orange clothing he would at least have a few seconds warning before anything happened. There was also the fact that it might motivate the ANBU to train harder to be able to protect Hokage-jiji. It would be humiliating if an Academy student dressed in bright orange managed to get passed all of the elite of the village, especially if the student was the Dead Last. It didn't matter if it was true or not, it was the perception of such that mattered the most.

Naruto was glad that he managed to wear his orange ensemble under his dark clothing without sweating to death. That would be a humiliating way to go. As he unzipped his hoodie and removed the ANBU pants he sighed in relief at the removal of such stuffy clothing. Normally it would have been very comfortable, but over his already warm orange jacket it was just stifling. He pulled out a small sealing scroll and sealed his dark clothes into it. Behind him, unbeknownst to the Uzumaki, a small seal flashed at his use of chakra.

As Naruto was strapping the Forbidden Scroll around his back with the white cord he brought for just this purpose he heard an elderly voice speak behind him. "Naruto-kun what do you think you're doing?!"

Naruto spun around at the voice at looked at the old man before him. He had grey hair that was slightly balding, a sign of his advanced age, that was hidden under the diamond shaped white and red hat that had the kanji for fire on the front of the diamond. He was wearing the customary Hokage robes that had a white and red motif similar to the hat.

"H-Hokage-jiji." Naruto stuttered. How did the old man figure out he was here? He made sure not to use any chakra except for… sealing his other clothes in that scroll! The young Uzumaki internally groaned at his slipup. Of course, that was a rookie mistake on his part. "What do you think you're doing?" The old Hokage repeated his question sternly. Naruto laughed sheepishly and replied, "Sorry about this Hokage-jiji, but I need this scroll to pass the secret graduation exam!" Before the old man could react Naruto used his trump card. "Oiroke no jutsu (Sexy Jutsu)!" In a poof of smoke Naruto disappeared and in his place was an image of near perfection. The old man couldn't help, but be blown back by a violent nosebleed in a similar manner to Iruka the previous day.

Naruto jumped out the window before anyone could come into the room to investigate all of the commotion. His plan to catch Mizuki in the act was completely ruined now. He was hoping to do this without involving anyone other than the Hokage so that it could be kept under wraps. He would have to greatly rework and revise his plan now.

Hopefully when the Hokage woke up he would remember Naruto's statement and catch his hidden message. 'I'm stealing this so I can catch a traitor. I didn't really fail. I'm doing this to help not harm Konoha.' He knew that there was a possibility Mizuki wasn't working alone. There was no way he could have gotten such secret information if he was. It may not have been detailed, but the information was deadly in the wrong hands. If Mizuki wasn't working alone that meant he had an inside source that could have gained such information. Naruto had no idea what this mole's official position was, he could have been a Genin or an ANBU as far as he knew, so he had to leave the Hokage with a verbal statement that would let him know that not everything was as it seemed. Any written note to tell the old man what he knew would possibly be destroyed and clue in the mole that he was far smarter than he let on.

He figured the Hokage would understand and send out shinobi under the pretext of capturing him for interrogation on the reason why he stole something so important. He would still go to the meeting place where he was supposed to show Mizuki the jutsu he learned from the scroll. Hopefully one of the trackers sent out would be able to find them and catch Mizuki red-handed for treason. Otherwise he would have to reveal his intelligence to the man and if the traitor escaped with that knowledge he would have less of an advantage against whoever was using Mizuki for this operation. It would be useful for his ploy if he actually did learn a jutsu from the scroll though so he would have to look the contents over. He hoped that there was at least one technique that wasn't completely unethical or suicidal in there.

* * *

(Outskirts of Konoha Training Grounds - 10:37 pm – January 7 – 61 AVF)

Naruto panted slightly as he arrived at the designated meeting spot. Avoiding capture when a large amount of the shinobi forces was after him was harder than he thought. He had to use a large number of his hidey holes that he had prepared for his escape during his pranks in order to avoid being discovered prematurely and not being able to oust Mizuki as the traitor. Luckily for him, only Iruka had ever discovered some of the places that he had hidden. He had no idea how the Academy teacher kept finding him, but he made sure that he was prepared for anything during his pranks and managed to create a large number of places for himself in order to hide. The majority of the ones that he used this time were never discovered by Iruka, because he had never used them after a prank, and so he knew that they weren't compromised in any way.

Naruto caught his breath and opened up the scroll slightly in order to find a technique that he could learn in order to continue his ploy with Mizuki if necessary. However that wasn't the only reason he agreed to go along with this convoluted plot. Naruto craved knowledge and this was an opportunity that he couldn't pass up. Being able to legally get away with stealing the Forbidden Scroll was an opportunity of a lifetime, one that he planned to make the most out of. Even if he never planned to use some of the techniques inside the scroll, just learning about them would be enough for Naruto. He wasn't some greedy technique thief; he just wanted to learn about the secrets hidden inside the scroll. Knowledge was power, knowledge of secrets even more so, _especially_ in the shinobi world. And the chance to gain so much knowledge for so little price was something that the young Uzumaki just couldn't pass up.

'_Now let's see here_.' The young Uzumaki thought to himself. There was one technique in the front of the scroll that caught the boy's eye. Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion). The technique almost made the young boy start drooling. Like all boys his age, Naruto was fond of explosions. _Very_ fond of explosions.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)." Naruto muttered. On the boy's right side a solid clone popped into existence. It already knew what Naruto wanted it to do, it was him after all, and began reading through the Forbidden Scroll, making absolutely certain it memorized everything, the techniques and the instructions, hand seals, and warnings written below them as well, while the creator of the clone began working on the jutsu that had him salivating at the thought of being able to create explosions at will.

Naruto figured that he would only have enough time to learn one technique before being discovered, but compensated for that by having his clone read through the entire scroll and then dispel itself so he could learn the other techniques, if he so desired, at his leisure.

* * *

(Outskirts of Konoha Training Grounds - 11:03 pm – January 7 – 61 AVF)

As Naruto finished retying the scroll to his back, he plopped down onto the ground panting. Learning the technique really wore him out and had the side-effect of giving him a massive headache. As he was trying to cool down from his intense training session he heard the sound of leaves rustling. Knowing that he had to stall them until Mizuki arrived he waited until the shinobi responsible for finding him revealed themselves. "I found you Naruto! The jig is up!" To Naruto's surprise, Iruka was the one who found him. However when he thought about it for a second it actually made sense that they would send out the one person that always seemed to figure out where he was after a prank, aside from the Hokage, after him.

However, he could admire the Hokage's cunning later because he had a show to put on and a traitor to catch.

"Man Iruka-sensei you found me fast. I only had time to learn two techniques." He came up with this excuse as to why he knew the Kage Bunshin after he discovered it was inside the scroll. That way, there wouldn't be too many questions as to how he knew the technique. "But now if I show you these two jutsu I pass right? Just like Mizuki-sensei said." Now was the time to bring up the fact that it was Mizuki that was behind all of this. That would get his attention. However, in Naruto's tired state he didn't realize that another person had arrived to watch this spectacle.

In his somewhat sleep deprived state Iruka was unable to notice the shuriken and kunai headed their way until they were already halfway to their target. He shoved Naruto out of the way and immediately acted to cover his face. The weapons snagged on his clothing and he was pinned to the shed that was normally used to house spare training implements by the thrown weapons. One of the kunai managed to dig in slightly into his thigh and one of his arms caught a shuriken that would have otherwise taken out his right eye. He lowered his arms to look for his attacker and to his shock it really was Mizuki, who was dressed as he normally was, but with two large shuriken strapped onto his back for easy reach and deployment. The white haired man was standing on a branch of the large tree in the middle of the clearing.

"Naruto give me the scroll now!" The traitor demanded. Naruto inwardly snorted if the man honestly thought that he would give him the scroll after he had just attacked Iruka. Outwardly the Uzumaki put on a confused face. "Huh? Wh-what's going on here?!" He shouted. He really deserved an acting award sometimes.

Iruka was panting, trying to somewhat ignore the pain in his body. "Naruto whatever you do don't give him the scroll!" Iruka shouted as he fought through the pain, "It holds forbidden techniques and secrets that were locked away by the Hokage themselves!" Iruka dug out the kunai and shuriken that were stuck in his leg and arm respectively, "Mizuki is a traitor and he was just using you to get the scroll for himself. He lied to you about the exam in order for you to do his dirty work." Iruka was panting slightly less now as he started to focus on Mizuki in order to ignore the pain.

It was a trick used by shinobi when they were harmed in battle, to focus on an enemy or something else would help them ignore the pain somewhat and continue fighting or their mission until they could get proper medical treatment. It was a dangerous tactic because it would make it harder for them to focus on their surroundings. Berserkers were usually the only ones that would be able to use this technique to the fullest because of their over-reliance on their instincts.

Mizuki chuckled cruelly. "I'm the one who's lying? Oh I'll tell you who's _really_ been lying." Iruka caught on to the traitor's intentions almost immediately. "Don't Mizuki it's forbidden!" The dark haired man shouted at his former assistant. Mizuki sneered at the man. "Like the scroll I'm about to acquire?" Mizuki asked rhetorically. "The entire village has been lying to you your whole life. Ever since the decree that old fool the Sandaime made twelve years ago."

Naruto pretended to be confused. Not that it was all that hard because he hadn't heard about any decree. "What decree?" The young Uzumaki asked. Mizuki started laughing maniacally. "The decree is that no one can tell you that the Kyuubi is inside you! You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!" The white haired man shouted. "The Yondaime that you so revere sealed you. That's why everyone hates you! Why you're hated for just being alive!"

Unexpectedly Naruto didn't react like either of the two men before him did. Instead of having a mental breakdown the boy started chuckling before it became outright laughter. "You think I'm the Kyuubi?!" Naruto gasped he was laughing so hard. "Do I look like a giant furry fox that wants to kill everything?" Naruto knew that the Kyuubi wasn't necessarily like that; it was the general stereotype because no one ever really knew the Kyuubi existed outside of its so-called attacks. It didn't want to kill everything, because that would make the world very boring for the giant kitsune. "You just said that the Kyuubi is inside me right? That implies some kind of seal was used. That makes it virtually impossible for me to be the Kyuubi." Naruto explained. The man seriously needed remedial lessons in sealing if he honestly believed he was the Kyuubi reborn.

Mizuki sneered at the Jinchuriki. "Like your lies will trick me you damn demon!" He shouted as he prepared to throw the large shuriken on his back.

As Naruto prepared to dodge the shuriken he heard Iruka shout, "Naruto get down!" The shout startled him and made him lose balance and slip on the slightly dewy grass and he landed on his back unable to dodge the shuriken without severely damaging at least one part of his body. The orange clad blond closed his eyes and braced for the pain that he expected would shoot throughout his body when the shuriken impacted.

There was the sound of a shuriken hitting flesh, but Naruto felt no pain. He opened his eyes to look at the reason why he felt no shuriken digging into his flesh. Above him, was Iruka, who appeared to be, crying? In the man's back was the shuriken that was aimed at his body. Some of the man's tears dripped onto his face. "Naruto, I know that you aren't the fox. I'm sorry it took so long for me to help you in the Academy." Iruka apologized. The scarred man chuckled lightly. "You know I acted quite a lot like you when my parents died. I kept playing pranks and acting like the class clown. Any attention was better than none at all." Iruka lamented on some of his past decisions.

Mizuki scoffed as he jumped down from his perch on the tree branch. "Oh please, Iruka's always hated you because the Kyuubi is the one who killed his parents. He would say anything to keep me from getting that scroll from you."

Naruto had heard enough. It was time to figure out if Iruka truly did care for him or not. The young Uzumaki took off into the forest as quickly as he could, ignoring Iruka calling out his name. As he jumped through the trees he attempted to contact the kitsune that was sealed inside of him. The Kyuubi had been very quiet today, more so than usual. The Bijuu very rarely deigned to speak with him, unless he was training, preferring to use his senses to perceive the outside world and relax. "_Hey Kyuubi-sensei, can you tell me why you're so quiet today_?" Naruto asked his unwilling tenant as he bounded through the trees of the forest.

The Bijuu had been trying to figure out what that other chakra signature meant throughout the day and had ended up with almost no conclusive ideas as to what the hell that human had done to gain something like that. Marks like the kind on the white haired human were usually signs of a demonic contract, but the mark gave off no youki. That automatically ruled out the man accepting such a contract. The only thing that the Kyuubi could think of was that somehow, a human had managed to recreate the demonic marking that usually appeared on beings that accepted a contract with a demon or yokai. However something like that should have been impossible.

"**Something isn't right about the traitor's chakra**." The Kyuubi explained to its host. "**I've been trying to discern why he has another chakra signature attached to his arm that is not his own. The only reason that I can come up with is supposed to be impossible**." It aggravated the Bijuu to be unable to figure out what it wanted to know and it was times like this it hated being sealed inside of a human. Being unable to seek out answers on its own was very irksome.

Naruto was somewhat confused. How could someone's chakra have another chakra signature if they weren't a Jinchuriki? The fox was right, it was confusing. Naruto sat down at the trunk of a tree so that he wouldn't accidentally crash into a tree branch while he was tree hopping. He plopped down and removed the scroll to lean it on his shoulder. "_Is there anything I should know about this extra chakra signature_?" Naruto questioned the kitsune. It would be useful to have any information in order to not underestimate Mizuki. He knew that under these circumstances he wouldn't be able to kill the Chunin in a straight out fight; he had used up a lot of chakra in order to learn the technique and he was slightly exhausted. Plus, any information that he had would be useful in order to fight the traitor.

The Kyuubi growled, thinking of any information that it had on demonic contracts that could be relevant to this situation. Even if it was supposed to be impossible, the two had enough similarities that some of the information could be useful. "**There is a possibility it could grant the traitor more power and strength than he would normally be able to access on his own**." The Kyuubi figured that wasn't the only benefit, but it doubted that the mark would be able to grant the white haired traitor any other special abilities.

Naruto leaned his head back on the tree trunk he was resting on. The Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion) training took more out of him than he thought. The way he was now he figured he could at most make only one more before he was completely exhausted. He heard the sound of trees rustling and knew that the two Chunin were close by. "_Thanks for the info sensei_." Naruto was grateful for the extra information on that strange signature on Mizuki. Now that he knew what it was it wasn't all that hard to pinpoint the reason the man felt so off today. That mark was radiating ill intent and twisted desires.

Naruto ignored the conversation going on between Mizuki and Iruka. It seemed like the man really did care for him. He created an exploding clone and sent it up to the trees above the clearing that the three of them were in. It would wait for an opportunity and then it would strike.

"You know I was saving this for later, but now I've changed my mind." Naruto heard Mizuki say while the sound of a shuriken cutting through the air reached his ears. He stood up and reattached the scroll onto his back. It looked like it was time to return the favor to Iruka for saving him.

Mizuki charged toward the immobilized Iruka with a manic grin on his face. Iruka had placed a resigned smile on his face, excepting his impending death with dignity. Suddenly Naruto shot out from the edge of the clearing and punched Mizuki in the cheek throwing off the man's balance and knocking the shuriken into the forest, far away from its original target. Mizuki jumped back to reorient himself as he looked at the orange clad blond that had stopped him from killing Iruka. The traitor growled to himself.

Naruto stood in front of Iruka while the man looked shocked at the young Uzumaki's arrival. "Naruto what are you doing you need to get out of here!" The Academy teacher shouted at Naruto. "No way Iruka-sensei." Naruto stated calmly. "You saved me earlier and I repay my debts." Naruto said seriously. The tanned man was shocked at how calm Naruto was acting in this situation. He had expected the blond to retort, but he had thought Naruto would have responded louder than he actually did.

Mizuki scoffed loudly at what he thought was mere bravado from the Uzumaki in front of him. "Yeah right!" The traitor responded. "I'm a Chunin and you're not even a Genin. I'll destroy you in one move!"

Naruto merely smiled a cold smile at the traitor. "Oh yeah? You might want to rethink your decision to face me." As soon as Naruto finished his sentence the clone he had sent into the trees jumped down from the tree above Mizuki and latched itself onto the traitor's back. Before the man could even react the clone exploded violently.

Naruto clutched his head as the backlash from the clone hit him. As he groaned in pain, his nose began to bleed slightly from the mental strain that the technique caused.

Iruka gasped as he saw his former assistant become the epicenter of an explosion. He grew even more worried when he saw his student in pain and beginning to bleed. He was astonished at the fact that Naruto had managed to learn the Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu) and the Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion) in less than a single night. He stood up, ignoring his injuries, and caught the blond as he started to fall backward.

Naruto chuckled lightly as Iruka caught him before he hit the ground. "Thanks Iruka-sensei." Naruto said softly. Kami, he was exhausted. He barely had enough energy to stay conscious after everything that happened tonight.

Unbeknownst to the other two in the clearing, Mizuki was still alive. The traitor slowly and jerkily reached into his weapons pouch and grasped a vial containing some type of red liquid. '_No way will I allow that damned demon to beat me. I'll use this gift Orochimaru-sama gave me and crush the life out of that damn fox_!' He raised the vial to his lips and drained the potion in one gulp.

Naruto suddenly jerked upwards as he sensed a huge chakra spike come from the direction of Mizuki's body. '_Damn it! I must have been too tired to put enough chakra in that clone to kill him_!' He was too exhausted to put up much of a fight and Iruka was seriously hurt.

Naruto wasn't the only one to feel the sudden surge of chakra in the clearing. Iruka sensed it as well. He watched in horror as his former comrade's muscles bulge out grotesquely as tribal and animal like markings spread around his face.

Mizuki laughed maniacally as he felt the power coursing through his veins. He felt like he could do anything he desired! And the thing he wanted most right now was to crush the life out of that damned demon! "With the power that Orochimaru-sama has granted me I'm invincible!" Mizuki shouted much to his former comrade's and his former student's horror.

Iruka was shocked to find out that his former best friend was working for that snake. Naruto was horrified because he had done a little research into the history of the Sannin when they taught that subject in class. They sugar coated so much of the actual history that Naruto took it upon himself to try and learn more about what interested him on his own time.

When he had heard about some of the experiments that the man had done he couldn't eat for a week without throwing up every time he thought about it. Orochimaru was one of the greatest traitors in the history of Konoha. He was notorious for his twisted experiments as well as his carelessness for those under his command.

Mizuki glared at the two before him. "Now with this power I will finally kill you, you damn demon!" Mizuki charged toward the worn out duo.

All of a sudden one of the ANBU, one with a tiger mask, appeared before him and struck his bodies pressure points in order to paralyze him. Another ANBU appeared, this one with a leopard's mask, behind him and placed a seal used for apprehending interrogation suspects alive if they resist onto the traitor's back and shocked the white haired man into unconsciousness.

A third ANBU appeared in the clearing this one wearing an eagle mask. "Good job apprehending the target." The eagle ANBU said to the one wearing the leopard mask. "Take him to T&I and tell Ibiki to enjoy himself, _but keep him alive_." The ANBU stressed the last four words more than the rest of his order. The two ANBU nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The ANBU that was obviously in charge turned to the other two in the clearing. "Chunin Umino, Genin Uzumaki, good job stalling the traitor until we discovered his location."

Naruto looked at the eagle ANBU and thought to himself, '_Cool mask_.' Before he realized what the ANBU had said. "Wait I'm not a Genin. I failed the exam remember and this one was fake." The sound of chuckling was heard by the shinobi in the clearing as the Hokage walked into it.

Iruka who had paled at the mention of Ibiki being allowed to enjoy himself, knelt down on one knee. "Hokage-sama!" He didn't know what to say. Everything was happening so quickly and he was still slightly delirious from his injuries.

"At ease, Iruka-kun." The Hokage allowed his subordinate to relax his rigid posture and turned to his pseudo grandson.

"Actually Naruto-kun," the Hokage said, "considering the fact that you helped us root out a traitor that was working with Orochimaru I think you definitely deserve a promotion after all of this."

Naruto looked and the old man and sighed in relief. "Thanks Hokage-jiji." Naruto said tiredly before he collapsed from exhaustion. So much had happened in so little time that he was mentally exhausted, physically exhausted and the amount of chakra he had expended made him actually start to suffer the beginning stages of chakra exhaustion.

Iruka caught the young blond as the Hokage and his ANBU chuckled quietly. "Amazing, sir. I can't believe that he managed to stay conscious for this long." The ANBU stated to his superior. The Hokage waved it off. "Never underestimate an Uzumaki, Washi. They will surprise you every time."

The ANBU left to continue his patrols throughout the village and let all the shinobi know that the hunt was over.

The Hokage stared at the young Uzumaki and thought to himself, '_Naruto-kun, I know that you have been keeping some things from me, but I understand. You are so much like your parents. So skilled at such a young age_.' "Let's get the two of you to the hospital. I'm sure after tonight you definitely need some medical treatment." The leader of Konoha said as he looked at Iruka.

The younger man chuckled tiredly and replied, "Sure thing Hokage-sama." As the Academy teacher picked up the young blond he looked at the peaceful expression on his sleeping face. "He is going to be so excited that he made Genin when he wakes up. I'm glad he didn't have to fail." The elderly Hokage merely chuckled and replied, "If tonight is any indication Naruto-kun is going to have a very interesting career as a shinobi." The Hokage sighed to himself. '_I hope I can live to see all of the great things you will do, Naruto-kun_.'

Meanwhile in the young Uzumaki's mindscape, the Kyuubi in its human form sat on a bed with Naruto's head on its lap. Its form was shrouded in darkness, disguising its gender. The Bijuu couldn't help but agree with the old Sarutobi. '**_You have a very interesting journey ahead of you, Naruto_**.' It thought to itself.

The Sandaime Hokage looked at the moon and the stars above and unknowingly thought the same thing as the kitsune. '_Your life is about to get very interesting, Naruto-kun. And I can't wait to see it_. /**_Your life is about to get very interesting, Naruto. And I can't wait to see it_**.' All the while, the young Uzumaki slept.

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**Author Note: This is the third chapter of Naruto: The Twilight's Dawn and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Over ten thousand words. This is my largest chapter yet. I'm sorry about taking so long, but like I said this is somewhat tough because I can't write the way I prefer to yet.**

**I will eventually be posting current rankings of the shinobi mentioned in the chapters when it becomes relevant or necessary to change/post them, unless it would be preferred that I post them in every chapter. I will only do overall rankings because all the individual skills I would have to list would be far too long. My list of individual skills is larger than most authors because I put a lot of thought into it. Mostly because of all the things I believe necessary for becoming a shinobi, which is why the list is so large. If it is desired I will post the skills I find necessary on the author's note at the bottom of the next chapter. But I won't put the rankings of each shinobi on them; it would be far too difficult to accurately judge that many things at once for me.**

Terms/Jutsu Used/Mentioned

Bunshin no jutsu (Clone Jutsu) – D-Rank Ninjutsu, Type: Support. This jutsu is almost completely worthless in battle because of the fact that the clone lacks a physical form and thus lacks a shadow. It is so simple that it is basically child's play to see through it. The only ones that can't perform this technique are those with too much chakra to actually control and those with chakra deficiencies.

Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)- B-Rank Forbidden Jutsu, Type: Support. This jutsu is incredibly dangerous to anyone with less than elite Jonin level chakra capacity because of the ridiculous amount of chakra necessary to use the technique. The jutsu is also forbidden because the mental backlash that results in the original gaining all of their clones' memories could leave an inexperienced user completely brain-dead. The only ones who can safely use this jutsu to the fullest are S-Ranked Shinobi and up, Kages, and Jinchuriki. (Side-Note: Because the Kages are always looking for a complicated solution to the Triple S-Ranked enemy known as Paperwork they overlook this jutsu being the secret that they have been searching for.)

Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion) – A-Rank Forbidden Jutsu, Type: Demolition/Support. This jutsu is very dangerous, even to users who have mastered it. The clone is an exploding type Kage Bunshin that detonates at the users will or when it is struck by an enemy. It takes roughly the same amount of chakra as ten Kage Bunshin to create one however the mental backlash is far more severe than the chakra cost implies. If used by an inexperienced user, even when training, it can completely liquefy parts of the brain. The user must have a very strong mind when even attempting to use this technique. If used by an experienced user the physical reaction to the extreme backlash is very minimal, but if used by someone who is merely proficient in its use the user will possibly bleed out of their nose as a sign of the physical stress that the technique puts on their brain. (Note: If used in training be very cautious of how much power is used in the clone. If too much chakra is put in the explosion will be uncontrolled and the backlash will be far worse.) THIS TECHNIQUE IS NOT MEANT TO BE USED LIGHTLY!

(1) This is a minor pun on his prankster nature and on the fact that the Kyuubi is sealed inside of him, because in Japanese legends, kitsune are notorious tricksters.

(2) I have never played shogi before, but I have seen it compared to chess, which I have played before, so this is what I am basing my knowledge of shogi off of.

**Review Would You Kindly,**

**Draconias Over and Out.**


	4. Chapter 3: The Prince of Pranks Successo

"I want to become the greatest Hokage, Dattebayo."- Normal Talking

'_Ugh. I can't believe I actually said that without puking_.'-_ Normal Thoughts_

"_Hey, do I have to keep acting like this, Kyuubi-sensei_?"- Telepathic Conversation

"**If you want to ruin years' worth of planning, go ahead and stop acting like a dumbass you brat**."- Speech of a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

'**_Ugh. I swear, if this brat wasn't my student, I would have devoured him ten times over for having to act like such a_ _fool_**.'- Thoughts of a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

"**_At least your Jinchuriki is sane_**." Telepathic Conversation between Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, Bijuu or other Higher Being

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)"- Technique being used

"**Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)**"- Technique being used by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

'_Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)_'- Technique being subvocalized

'**_Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)_**'- Technique being subvocalized by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

"_Fuin_!" Seal being used

"**_Fuin_**!" Seal being used by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

'_Fuin_!' Seal being subvocalized

'**_Fuin_**!' Seal being subvocalized by a Jinchuriki in a Bijuu mode, a Bijuu or other Higher Being

**Review Replies**

**AbZHz101**- Thanks for your review and you are definitely right. The only reason that I would stop writing this story is for reasons that were completely out of my control. I recently rediscovered my love of writing last year, but because of extenuating circumstances I was unable to do much with it until now. The gender of the Bijuu is something best left to the interpretation of the individual in my opinion. It makes it more fun to write fanfiction that way. The whole strength based on tails thing was originally made up by fanfiction writers as an excuse to have Naruto overpowered. It eventually evolved into a large number of different interpretations when a large number of other authors expanded on the theory. In canon, the Kyuubi says something about how the Hachibi should be able to deal with something because it's supposed to be the second strongest Bijuu because of its number of tails. The Hachibi later brings up that it wasn't necessarily true and that was one of the reasons Shukaku always hated the Kyuubi. I think the Bijuu are all pretty close to each other in power, but it all depends on the control they have over it. For example, I'm pretty sure that fighting Shukaku in the desert would be suicide for anyone without a special ability meant to subdue it. I think that it was the Kyuubi's ego talking when it bragged it was the strongest of all the Bijuu, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't true. Also the only times I ever actually played chess were with some of my friends when we were bored in study hall, so I don't have any professional knowledge about the game, but thanks for telling me about some of your knowledge on the subject. I'm glad that my previous response was enough to explain everything and I hope you continue to enjoy this story.

**DarkNamikaze**- There will be a pairing eventually, but I won't reveal it until I can do so without spoiling anything. I just want to say right now, **THERE WILL BE NO NARUHINA, NARUSAKU, OR YAOI**. If you want to see my reasons for this go to my profile and you will see why I hate those pairings. Also, I have no problem with other people writing or reading Yaoi, but it is just not my thing.

**Aire5**- I already have a pairing picked out in this story, but I will not reveal it just yet. If you want my reasons just look at my response above to DarkNamikaze.

**IchiFell**- They are not necessarily the equivalent of the Assassins, but to reveal anymore would be a spoiler. To give you a hint, you're not wrong, but you're also not necessarily right either. I'm glad you're interested and I hope you continue to read my story.

**Shooter375**- Yes there will be some elements of the Assassins Creed franchise, but I can't say anymore without spoiling anything. I apologize for that. I have taken into consideration all pairings I believe would be suitable for this story and I have already made my decision on it, but I won't be able to reveal it until future chapters. I hope you can understand.

Also, about the Status Update AN, I can't really do anything about a lightning strike frying my router and basically making it as useless as a destroyed toaster. (I'm not Zeus, Jupiter, or Thor you know) I will not abandon this story if I can help it, so you don't have to worry about me quitting when the stories getting good. Unfortunately I may not be able to update all that quickly during the later days of this month considering that I am beginning my first year of college soon. I can already tell, based on the amount of paperwork, that it's going to be a pain. Or as a Nara would say, Troublesome.

Anyway thanks for your review. It's nice to see people consistently read my story and enjoy them enough to leave a comment, even if it is just saying that they liked it. I'm not an author that would care too much about that, but I still appreciate the sentiments. Even if I stopped getting any reviews I doubt I would stop writing this story. I started this story for my own enjoyment and I will continue to write with that same feeling regardless of what other people think. Unless it's constructive criticism, then I would take something like that into consideration while writing the next chapter. I hope that you enjoy this new chapter.

Enjoy the story (On another note I got my first flame review on 7-29-13. And I gotta say. It hurt a lot less than I thought it would. I honestly wonder how bored someone must be to flame a story for no good reason other than they don't like it. If you don't like a story don't bother reviewing. I didn't even bother to learn the name of this flamer because I honestly just have a hard time caring about it.)

**Disclaimer: I don't own any franchise that is used in this story nor do I make any profit from it whatsoever.**

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**Chapter 3: The Prince of Pranks Successor**

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(Konohagakure Hospital – 10:17 am – January 8 – 61 AVF)

Naruto groaned as he awakened to the smell of antiseptics. There was only one place he could think of that would have that horrible scent. '_Ugh. Hospital_.' He loathed hospitals with every fiber of his being.

They reeked of chemicals and death. The chemicals were so strong that they irritated his enhanced sense of smell even when he was just in the general vicinity of the building. While the smell of death wasn't as potent, being covered up by the smell of powerful chemicals, it was still noticeable and it disturbed the young Uzumaki.

Naruto didn't mind the nurses that checked up on him though. They usually gave him sweets if he didn't make his yearly check-ups too difficult. They were always very helpful and kind to him and they always made sure that he finished up quickly. They didn't ever seem to care that he was the container of the Kyuubi.

Naruto took off the bandages wrapped around his forehead as he sat up in his hospital bed. "I hate hospitals." The Uzumaki mumbled to himself as he checked himself over for any other bandages. He found that his clothes had been removed and for a second blushed at the thought of one of the pretty nurses undressing him before he shook that image out of his mind. '_Damn you aniki. I am so going to prank your ass for reading me those damn Icha Icha books_.' Naruto thought to himself. He would never be able to think about nurses the same way again. Putting away his thoughts of minor vengeance against Kakashi, Naruto stood up from the hospital bed and reached for his clothes that had been set out for him on the table next to the hospital bed. As he felt his clothes he noticed that they no longer had the grass stains that had previously covered them, meaning that they had been recently washed. He smiled softly as he realized that one of the nurses must have done it for him. He would have to thank her. It was somewhat hard to wash his clothes properly because of his bitchy landlord. She was just another one of the narrow minded masses that just generally pissed Naruto off.

As Naruto finished removing the hospital robe he heard someone knock on the door to his hospital room and he heard a kind voice resonate throughout the room. "Naruto-kun, are you awake yet? You need to be at the Hokage Tower before noon for your Genin photo, remember?" The kind voice asked him as the nurse opened the door.

As the nurse walked in she was revealed to be a young, maybe late teens to early twenties, brown haired woman with chocolate brown eyes. Her hair was cut short so it wouldn't get in her way while she was treating her patients. She was currently dressed in the standard nurse uniform while holding a clipboard that detailed all she needed to know about her patients.

As she looked into the room she noticed the young boy, dressed in only his boxers, taking off the hospital robe and inadvertently giving her a good view of his toned body from his tough training sessions. He was neither overly muscle bound nor was he completely built for speed or flexibility.

He had trained himself in order to gain a very balanced form that was fast, but still packed a punch as well as flexible enough if he had to bend in any peculiar manner in order to avoid a strike. He also trained his stamina so he could last in a prolonged conflict if necessary. As a result, he had a very balanced form that was apparently pleasing to the eyes of the nurse if her blush was anything to go by. "I-I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that you were changing clothes." The poor nurse looked positively flustered and Naruto wasn't doing much better.

She really filled out the nurse uniform in all the right places. Naruto internally smacked himself and cursed Kakashi once again for reading him those damn books. "I'll just step outside and let you finish getting dressed." The nurse said quickly and almost slammed the door on her foot in her haste to leave the embarrassing situation.

Naruto groaned to himself as he put on his clothes after the nurse left the room. If the last minute was any indication the day was going to be very eventful for the young blond. Great, just great.

* * *

(Hokage Tower – 11:.35 am – January 8 – 61 AVF)

The photographer looked at the young child before him. He was painted so extravagantly that the old man just had to be sure. "Hey kid, are you sure you want to be photographed like that?" It was rather well done, considering it was a twelve year old who did the work, if the photographer did say so himself, but this was supposed to be a professional ID photo, not an art competition.

Naruto shifted uncomfortably as he did his best to hold his pose. "Yeah hurry up before you die of old age you geezer!" He wouldn't normally be so irritable, but the paint was starting to melt on his face from the heat and he had put a lot of effort to get the look just right.

A vein twitched on the photographer's forehead. "I'm not old you damn brat! I'm only thirty-seven!" The man angrily placed the photo blanket over his head as he prepared to take the shot. In a flash, the photo was taken and the photographer impatiently sent the blond down to the Hokage.

As Naruto sat in front of the old Hokage he squirmed in his seat as the Sarutobi scrutinized his photo. "Well, do you like it Hokage-jiji?" Naruto hoped the old man did. Despite it being a slightly rushed job he was rather proud of the photo.

The elderly Hokage stared hard at the photo of the Uzumaki before him. Without any of the face paint. Surprisingly, the photo and the blond still shared a passing resemblance despite them not looking anything alike aside from the hair color and the blue eyes. In the photo Naruto had painted his face bright red with silver designs painted elegantly over his cheeks, forehead, and chin. Naruto's face was set in a bestial snarl granting a rather wild, yet regal air to the photo. All in all it was rather impressive, but, "Take it again." The elderly Sarutobi couldn't accept this photo. Despite it being rather well done it still barely resembled the blond in front of him.

Naruto was slightly hurt. He couldn't let the old man shoot it down just like that. "But isn't it awesome jiji?" Naruto argued. "It took a little while, even with clones helping me, but I thought it came out amazing." He had put a lot of effort in getting the designs right in time for his scheduled appointment.

The old Hokage knew that his pseudo grandson had put a significant amount of effort into the photo, but he just couldn't accept it. "Naruto-kun, the ID photo of a shinobi is supposed to resemble you so clients will be able to have basic information in order to properly request missions." The old man explained. "No matter how extravagant this photo is, and believe me I am very impressed you managed to get the designs so intricately done in so little time, it only bares a passing resemblance to you at best. No matter how much I want to I just can't accept this photo." Hiruzen sighed slightly. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun." The old Hokage apologized.

Naruto was happy that the old man liked his photo, but he still didn't have to like the fact that all his hard work was wasted. Time for some payback. Uzumaki-style. "Oiroke no jutsu (Sexy Jutsu)!" Naruto wouldn't let the old man just tell him that his efforts had been wasted without some humiliation. And considering the fact that the old man apparently enjoyed that damn series that Kakashi-aniki liked to read, plus the fact that this jutsu had worked the previous night, the perfect jutsu to use was the technique he invented to deal with perverts.

In a poof of smoke the young blond haired boy sitting before the Hokage was replaced with a slightly older blonde bombshell with perfect legs and a figure that most women would kill for. The Hokage had already seen this technique the previous night, but couldn't help but be blown back by a strong nosebleed once more. At least this time he managed to retain his hold on consciousness.

As Naruto fell off his chair laughing the elderly, and apparently slightly perverted, Hokage placed some tissues in his nose to stem the bleeding. "That's a very tricky technique Naruto-kun. Very tricky indeed. I'm going to have to ask you not to perform it in my presence again, understand?" The old Sarutobi was glad that there weren't any of his shinobi around that could have seen that. Either time. It would have been difficult to explain the venerable Sandaime Hokage falling for such a perverted technique, not only once, but twice.

Suddenly the door to the office was flung open and a small brown haired boy with an odd helmet on his head, dressed in a yellow shirt with the village symbol, white shorts, blue open toed sandals, and a long scarf that was just asking to be tripped on ran into the room declaring, "Jiji I'll beat you and become the Godaime Hokage!" Before he tripped on his scarf and landed flat on his face.

Naruto, who went back to his chair, looked at the 'Future Godaime Hokage'. '_Who is this kid_?' The 'assassin' was holding back tears from his eyes as he rubbed his nose from his, obviously painful, meeting with the floor.

The Sandaime merely lowered his hat to cover his eyes, and his slight blush that hadn't gone away even after Naruto had released his transformation, and sighed in slight despair at another problem. '_My grandson. Another headache_.' The elder Sarutobi in the room groaned silently to himself. '_He's very determined that was his seventh 'sneak attack' today_.' Although the Sandaime certainly hadn't appreciated that sneak attack while he was in the shower. _That _one had been rather irritating. At least this time he was fully clothed. He was grateful for the small mercy.

The young child looked around the room before he spotted Naruto sitting on the chair. "Hey you're the one who set up that trap aren't you!" The boy yelled at the Uzumaki. Naruto stared at the child for a second, before he grabbed the extra-long blue scarf. "This is what you tripped on. I didn't set up any traps at all." Naruto explained calmly. "You shouldn't wear a scarf that is longer than you. Stupid brat." Naruto muttered the last part, but apparently the young boy heard it.

A small vein twitched on the young boy's forehead. "Hey who're you calling stupid?! Stupid!" The younger Sarutobi retorted.

Naruto grabbed onto the young child's scarf as well as the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Watch who're calling stupid, you brat!" Naruto didn't like being called stupid by someone who he had never even met.

"Put down the Honorable Grandson this instant you delinquent!" A man wearing circular sunglasses with his headband wrapped around his head similarly to a bandana. The man was wearing the standard shinobi clothes sans vest and was otherwise pretty much unremarkable. "That boy is the Honorable Grandson of the Honorable Sandaime Hokage-sama!"

Naruto looked at the strange man. "When did you get in here?" He had noticed the man as soon as he had come in, but wanted to rile him up. Plus it wouldn't be a good idea to let him know that Naruto could sense him. The man had pretty large chakra reserves, at least High B-Rank. Also the man was obviously one of the people who disliked him because of the chilling glare that he was giving the young Uzumaki, but considering him calling Naruto a delinquent he wasn't sure if the man hated him for the Kyuubi, or for his pranks.

The man spluttered, "I entered right after my charge!" He was obviously not happy about being dismissed so casually by a 'delinquent'. "Anyway put the Honorable Grandson down right now!" The man demanded.

Naruto was about to put the kid down, not gently, but not enough to hurt him, because he didn't take kindly to being called stupid by anyone who didn't even know him. Then, the kid that was dangling from his hand scoffed arrogantly. "Afraid to hurt me knowing that my grandfather is the Hokage?" If the kid hadn't opened his big mouth he wouldn't have gotten what came next.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "I don't care if he was your grandmother, dattebayo!" The young blond retorted. He decked the kid on his cranium before walking passed the gaping shinobi and out of the room grumbling to himself about stupid verbal ticks and irritating loudmouth brats.

* * *

(Streets of Konoha – 11:47 am – January 8 – AVF 61)

Naruto walked one of the lesser used streets of the village as he thought about what he could do today. According to the Hokage, who he had gone back to after getting another photo for his ID, Iruka wouldn't be allowed out of the hospital until the next day. Which meant that the orientation for the new Genin was postponed until tomorrow.

As the young Genin wandered some of the lesser used streets of the village in an effort to decide what to do with his boredom, he noticed something rather strange. He had accidentally walked into the same alley, or one that looked almost identical to said alley, that he had used to escape from the two Chunin who had pursued him after his greatest prank. However that wasn't the odd thing that caught the young Uzumaki's attention. What did was the spiky brown hair and the odd helmet, that he had recognized the young boy he had met earlier had been wearing, that was sticking out from a sheet that would have normally perfectly matched the fence had the lines on the sheet actually matched up with the lines on the wooden fence.

Naruto's eye started to twitch slightly in irritation. He had hoped that the kid from earlier had gotten the message not to bother him when he had punched his skull. Apparently, the kid was as dense as the blond acted.

Naruto contemplated what to do for a few seconds as he walked past the poorly disguised child. "You're holding it wrong." Naruto said as he made up his mind on what to do. He yanked the sheet out of the child's hands, that were also visible from above the sheet.

The end result was the young boy spinning sideways in the air before landing on his back. Naruto walked over to the young brunette boy and asked in an annoyed tone of voice, "What do you want brat?" He had something to do. Which was finding something to do. Normally he would train by himself to stave off his boredom, but it was too risky at the moment. He didn't want to attract any more attention to himself after the incident the previous night. Especially if he wanted to keep his true skill level secret.

The young boy groaned in pain as he looked at the reason he was suddenly on his back staring at the clouds like a Nara. He jumped up to his feet and brushed off his shorts. "You're good. Just like the rumors said." Of course he didn't know if there were any rumors, but if there were he wanted to come across like he knew them.

Naruto subtly stiffened at the word rumors, but calmed himself down quickly as he reasoned that there is no way some kid would have any knowledge about rumors involving him. Well unless they were rumors about his skills at pranking.

After he had brushed all of the dirt off of his shorts the boy looked at Naruto with unwavering determination. "Alright, I'll be your student and you'll be my trainer!" The young brunette declared boldly. He knew that the older boy would cave. After all who could resist the knowledge of training the- "Not interested brat." Wait, what.

Naruto started walking away after shooting the arrogant brat down.

The grandson of the Sandaime stood with his mouth gaping. This guy really was different from all of the others. "Oh come on Boss! You have to train me! I want to learn that awesome jutsu you used to beat Jiji!" The young(er) boy complained.

Naruto froze after hearing that the kid wanted to learn the Oiroke no jutsu (Sexy Jutsu). This was just too good of a chance to pass up. _He_ may not be able to prank anyone after he officially graduated, but that didn't mean he couldn't train a successor to become his replacement. After all, he hadn't officially graduated yet, so he had free rein to teach the younger boy about his skills until the orientation. Naruto had to resist the urge to begin cackling maniacally. Yes this would be perfect.

All around Konoha, multiple people shivered in fear for an unknown reason. The ones who felt the shiver the worst were Iruka and the Hokage.

Naruto led the Sandaime's grandson all around the village in an effort to teach the boy about the female body and how it can devastatingly affect the majority of the male population. Unfortunately, the boy royally screwed up his first attempt and they ended up having to run away from the women's side of the hot springs. Naruto then decided that maybe a less potentially dangerous way of teaching the boy was in order, so he led the boy into a shop he knew sold swimsuit calendars. It wasn't any kind of perverted store so he knew that he wouldn't end up corrupting the young brunette too much. Compared to what Kakashi had read to him, this was innocent fun. Unfortunately the owner had been having a bad day, and ended up throwing the blond and his 'student' out of the store after they snuck in while he was sleeping on the job. Naruto had taught his young student much and had decided to pass on one of his own little quirks. "You'll have to get him back for that." The Uzumaki stated after the owner of the store had thrown them out. He taught the young boy about using his pranks for minor vengeance, but he also made sure to caution the young Sarutobi about causing too much physical harm to his prank targets or any bystanders. The reason why Naruto didn't get into too much trouble for his pranks was because he didn't hurt anyone too badly. Sure he may have ruined your business for a few days, or weeks at most, but it wasn't anything drastic that would destroy their way of life. He wasn't that cruel. As the sun began to set for the day, Naruto led the younger boy to a nice secluded park that had a vending machine in order to relax. Naruto had no idea how thirsty he was until he saw the cool drinks in the vending machine. He had no idea that teaching could make one so thirsty.

As Naruto sat down on the bench next to his temporary student, he looked at the boy who seemed kind of down. "Hey kid, what's wrong?" The boy had seemed to be in good spirits all day so what could suddenly make the boy so sad.

The youngest Sarutobi just sighed dejectedly. "It's just, this is the most fun I've had in a long time and I don't want things to go back to the way they were. My grandfather, the Sandaime Hokage, named me Konohamaru, after the name of the village, but everyone only calls me Honorable Grandson. Nobody calls me by my real name. It's why I want to be Hokage so bad. So everyone will stop seeing my grandfather whenever they look at me and see me for me." Konohamaru sighed sullenly to himself.

Naruto was slightly disturbed by how similar their situations were. '_It would almost be like looking at a younger me, if I had actually cared about what the villagers thought of me_.' Naruto didn't care what about people who judged him before even getting to know him thought about him. The only opinions that he cared about were those of his family. As long as they cared for him, he didn't give a damn what others thought.

The Kyuubi Jinchuriki snorted. "Then why are you looking for shortcuts." Naruto had a feeling that was why the young Sarutobi had asked him to teach him his jutsu. "The Hokage has to be one of the strongest shinobi in the world. You can't become that strong by taking any shortcuts. If one takes the easy path all they'll do is end up weakening themselves." That was why he preferred not to use the Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu) for training if he could help it. He had no problem with using them for reading books, but he drew the line at using them to learn techniques. However he had no problem with using a small amount to help him master techniques, but he refused to use more than ten to do so. Any more than that and he would feel like he was cheating himself. The only other exception was if the technique would physically cripple him if he messed it up. Those kinds of techniques he would gladly use his clones to practice.

He didn't want to lose any fingers or toes, even if the Kyuubi could probably just regrow them. The kitsune had mentioned the possibility of it being able to do so, but it also told Naruto of the excruciating pain that was caused by such regeneration. Because of the recreation of all the nerves and everything else that went hand in hand with regenerating body parts, it was one of the most painful things that one could experience. Especially considering the fact that the nerves had to connect to the brain, which meant that one had to be conscious, or at the very least semi-conscious, in order to properly regenerate and the fact that the new nerves would be exposed to the air until the skin was finished regrowing. Considering his heightened senses, Naruto had absolutely no desire to discover just how painful it would be for him to regenerate any of his body parts.

Konohamaru looked at the young Uzumaki with awe. He was so smart and he was only a little older than the young Sarutobi. '_Wow. Boss is so cool_!' The young boy thought.

"There you are you delinquent! Hand over the Honorable Grandson right now!" The shinobi from the incident earlier in the day had managed to track down the two young boys. He was starting to want to rip his hair out. He followed the trail of mayhem that the two youngsters caused and now he was officially at his wits end! It was obvious to the man that the Jinchuriki was corrupting his student and that had to stop. Now!

Konohamaru looked at his trainer and responded, "No way Ebisu-baka!" The youngest Sarutobi pulled down his eyelid and stuck out his tongue at the sunglasses wearing man. "Boss here taught me an awesome jutsu and I haven't learned anything like that from you! He's a way better teacher than you because I can actually understand what he says!" That was one of Konohamaru's biggest issues with learning from Ebisu. The man used a bunch of complicated words to explain a whole bunch of things that he just didn't understand. It was partly the reason that he constantly ran away from those lessons.

Ebisu was aghast at the thought of the Kyuubi Jinchuriki being a better teacher than him. The man jumped down from his perch in the tree and started walking toward his charge. "Oh please. That delinquent could never be a better teacher than me. I am a Jonin and I know over a hundred jutsu, you don't even know one jutsu."

Konohamaru bristled at that. He didn't know a jutsu huh? "Oiroke no jutsu (Sexy Jutsu)!" Konohamaru transformed into a beautiful brunette woman with perfect curves and perfectly proportionate breasts as well as amazing legs. "So I don't know any jutsu do I~?" The newly transformed brunette woman breathed seductively.

Ebisu's jaw dropped. He subtly wiped away a small amount of blood from his nose as he began to chastise the Honorable Grandson. "What kind of immoral jutsu is that?! As if I would fall for such a pathetic jutsu like that!" He would never be able to live down the shame if he fell for such a perverted technique.

As Konohamaru released the transformation and started mumbling to himself about how it didn't work, Naruto was thinking of a way to teach this man a lesson. He had noticed that Ebisu had wiped the blood from his nose. That meant the technique had affected him, just not on a large enough scale. '_Wait, if just one didn't work-_.' Naruto cut that thought off as he began to grin deviously. He noticed the Jonin dragging his newest protégé away by the scarf. He couldn't have that. The boy was going to be his legacy as a prankster in the Academy. He had to keep the teachers there on their toes somehow and if he couldn't do it, his student would.

As Ebisu was dragging his charge away from the corrupting influence that was the Jinchuriki he heard a shout of, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" So he wanted to make a spectacle did he? The Jonin pushed up his glasses as he observed all of the clones surrounding him. "So, you want to fight do you? Very well, I'll oblige you. Just be warned, I'm not like that upstart Mizuki." The last sentence was delivered in a very serious voice and Naruto could see why. The man had subtly flexed his chakra and Naruto knew it was a subconscious preparation for the fight. Apparently the man really was strong. When the Uzumaki had sensed the man's chakra capacity before, it had only been High B-Rank, but now it was at least Low A-Rank. Naruto had suspected he was suppressing his chakra capacity, he honestly doubted that Hokage-jiji would allow anyone weak to guard his grandson. Unfortunately for the Jonin, Naruto wasn't planning on fighting him in a conventional manner today.

Naruto had all of his clones surround the Jonin as the man walked into the circle leaving Konohamaru on the outside so he wouldn't get dragged into the conflict. All of a sudden, Naruto and his clones simultaneously used his Oiroke no jutsu (Sexy Jutsu). All of the blonds in the clearing all of a sudden turned into slightly older blond bombshells that had a perfect figure. Amazing curves, perfectly proportioned breasts and legs that many women would kill for. They were all almost completely naked, with only small clouds of smoke maintaining any modicum of decency. And they were all hanging off of Ebisu, whispering perverted things into his ears.

Ebisu couldn't resist anymore and was blown back in a violent nosebleed and smashed into a tree on the outer edges of the park sending him into a perverted dreamland.

Naruto dispelled his transformation as well as his clones at the same time. He shivered slightly at the small amount of bile coming up his throat from having to whisper perverted things into the Jonin's ear. He was one hundred percent straight so that somewhat disturbed him. However he put on a brave face for his student and stated proudly, "Harem no jutsu (Harem Jutsu) is a success."

Konohamaru might have well had stars in his eyes. "Wow Boss! That was so cool!" Konohamaru was so glad that he met Naruto. Otherwise he might have never learned such an awesome jutsu.

Naruto walked over to the bench and sat down. He was glad that he taught Konohamaru. The looks on the Academy teachers' faces would be priceless once they learned that Naruto had taught the young Sarutobi his infamous Pervert Killer jutsu. He would love to see that, but he would just have to listen to the stories from Konohamaru and live vicariously through the young boy in order to prank the Academy teachers now.

The young Sarutobi sat down next to his Boss after getting the two of them another drink from the vending machine. The two of them spent the remaining minutes of daylight relaxing and Naruto shared some last minute advice with his protégé. "If you want to become Hokage, you're going to have to train yourself into the ground." The Uzumaki said calmly as he finished his drink. "And then," he continued, "you're going to have to pick yourself up and keep on training. It will take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in order to become one of the strongest shinobi in the world. If you aren't prepared for that, then don't bother even trying."

Konohamaru listened to the older boy as he imparted what seemed to be very important knowledge to the young brunette. What Naruto was telling him was his own motto for training. When he heard what would be required of him if he wanted to become Hokage Konohamaru looked at Naruto with determination. "I'll do it! I'll become the greatest Hokage; no I'll become the strongest shinobi in the whole world!" The young boy declared. "No matter what kind of training I have to go through, I will become the strongest!"

Naruto looked at the young Sarutobi, before he burst out laughing. It wasn't any kind of mocking laughter that the brunette expected. It was warm, and happy.

Naruto stopped laughing abruptly and let a savage grin come across his face. "If you want to become the strongest shinobi in the world, you're going to have to defeat me first!" The young Uzumaki didn't expect the boy to take so much of his own philosophy, but he was glad he managed to inspire the boy. Who knows? Maybe one day they would end up fighting for the title of the strongest shinobi in the world. That would certainly be interesting.

Naruto stood up as he began walking away from the park. He stopped suddenly and looked over his shoulder with a grin to face the young Sarutobi. "If that day ever does come, I'm sure I'll enjoy it greatly. Konohamaru." With that the young Uzumaki started making his way back to his apartment. He heard Konohamaru declare him to no longer be his Boss, but instead declare him to be his rival. It made a small smile come across the Uzumaki's face as he heard that.

As he made his way back to his apartment, Naruto thought about the day he had. He had a lot of fun teaching Konohamaru his pranking style. He also enjoyed just spending some fun time enjoying the day with the young Sarutobi. All in all, despite its rather awkward beginning, today was a good day.

* * *

**Author Note: Sorry about taking so long to update, but after lightning fried my router I ended up catching a cold and that made it a little difficult to write. I'm a lot better now, just a little sore throat and stuffy head. Luckily I don't need to be able to talk to write so I finished up this chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading it. (As a minor side note, I slightly altered the previously posted chapters, nothing much but one change of mine will have a larger meaning later on in the story, and I did my best to fix any grammar mistakes. If any readers see any mistakes with grammar or punctuation please let me know. It's a minor pet peeve of mine and I do my best to not have any, but I am only human after all.) This chapter was supposed to show that, despite not having the greatest childhood and wanting to at least do grievous harm to those who hate him for holding the Kyuubi as well as only having a few people in his life actually try to care for him, Naruto can still be a child at heart sometimes. It's one of his better qualities in canon in my opinion. If canon Naruto wasn't an idiot I would probably enjoy the series a whole lot more. No matter your age, everyone still has a small piece of the child they used to be inside of them. That's what can make life fun. You're always learning new things and sometimes it's nice to act like a kid again every once in a while.**

**The next chapter will showcase some of Naruto's skills in the form of the infamous Bell Test. There won't be any jutsu that will reshape the landscape, because honestly the objective is to get the bells off of Kakashi not kill the man, but you will see a piece of his skills in Chapter 4: Team 7 - The Disaster Team or The Dream Team.**

Terms/Jutsu Used/Mentioned

Harem no jutsu (Harem Jutsu) – A-Rank, or SSS-Rank Forbidden Jutsu, Type: Support/Distraction. This jutsu is a combination of the Oiroke no jutsu (Sexy Jutsu) and the Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu) that has devastating effects on the target. It transforms clones that were already previously made, or the clones can be created in Oiroke no jutsu (Sexy Jutsu) form without creating the clones normally, and the transformed clones swarm the target and whisper perverted thoughts into the target's ear while rubbing up against the target's body in a sensual manner. It is somewhat uncomfortable for inexperienced users if they are straight because unlike its singular counterpart this technique requires the user to make physical contact with the target and that can be uncomfortable for first time users if they aren't flexible with their sexual orientation. However even if it gets easier for users it doesn't mean that they become more "flexible", just that they learn how to ignore the uncomfortable sensations. Like its singular counterpart very few people would be able to resist this technique.

**As I had said I would in my previous author's note about the Current Rankings of characters in my story, I have posted all the characters that have appeared so far, I believe I have at least, as well as a few who will have their appearance in the next chapter.**

Current Rankings _(Note: This does not take into account individual skills, just what their overall ability and power would be if they were forced into open conflict. So things like stealth and information gathering has no relevance to this kind of rank. This is purely what their skill level would be if they were forced into a battle.)_

Uzumaki Naruto (Low A-Rank)

The Kyuubi (High SS-Rank) - Despite having lost half of its chakra on the night of its third Jinchuriki's birth, the Kyuubi is still incredibly powerful.

Hatake Kakashi (High A-Rank) – Kakashi may have been a former ANBU Captain, but because he didn't maintain his training regime from those days his skills have dulled.

Yuhi Kurenai (High B-Rank)

Sarutobi Asuma (High A-Rank) – Being a former member of the Daimyo's personal guard, Asuma is a very powerful shinobi.

Umino Iruka (Mid B-Rank)

Touji Mizuki (Before using his curse seal- Low B-Rank) (After using his curse seal- Mid-High A-Rank)

Haruno Sakura (Mid-High E-Rank)

Uchiha Sasuke (Low-Mid C-Rank)

Yamanaka Ino (Low D-Rank)

Akimichi Choji (Mid D-Rank)

Nara Shikamaru (Mid D-Rank)

Hyuuga Hinata (Mid D-Rank)

Inuzuka Kiba (High D-Rank)

Aburame Shino (High D-Rank)

Ebisu (Mid-High A-Rank)

Sarutobi Konohamaru (Low E-Rank)

Sarutobi Hiruzen (Mid SS-Rank) - In his prime he was High SS-Rank, but his body could no longer keep up with him because of his advanced age and as a result his skills declined.

**I have also posted a list of skills that I believe are necessary for becoming a shinobi. The list I have is rather long because I put a large amount of thought into it. Keep in mind though, that when I say that I believe that these skills are necessary for becoming a shinobi, I mean at least knowing the basics of at least half of these skills. It would be a lot to ask a Genin to know everything about these skills right out of the Academy.**

**Shinobi Skillset**

_Shinobi Survival Skills_

-Camping

-Hunting

-Foraging

-Stealing

-Stealth

-Parkour

-Swimming

-Chakra Control

-Generic Healing (Using specific plants or other treatment techniques, without chakra, to heal an injury.)

-Anatomy (Knowledge of how the bodies of living creatures work.)

-Antidotes (Using herbs or chemicals to heal a poisoned victim.)

-Poison (Using herbs or chemicals to poison a target.)

-Trapping Skills

-Information Gathering

-Interrogation

-Observation & Analysis

-Strategy

-Tracking

-Tactics

_Ninjutsu_

-Chakra Control- (The more control one has over their chakra, the less excess chakra their techniques will give off.)

-Chakra Capacity (Amount of chakra one has available in their Chakra Network.)

-Chakra Density (The more dense or compressed ones chakra is, the stronger their average techniques are.)

_Taijutsu_

-Physical Stamina (How long one can last in a fight without augmentation with chakra.)

-Physical Flexibility (How agile one's body is.)

-Physical Speed (How fast ones strikes are and their reaction speed without augmentation with chakra.)

-Physical Power (The strength behind ones strikes without augmentation with chakra.)

-Accuracy (How accurate ones attacks are.)

_Genjutsu_

-Chakra Control (The more control one has over their chakra, the less excess chakra their techniques will give off.)

-Chakra Capacity (Amount of chakra one has available in their Chakra Network.)

_Bukijutsu a.k.a Weapons Techniques_

-Accuracy (How easily the user can hit their target, moving or not, from certain distances away.)

-Speed (The speed at which the weapon is traveling while still being on target.)

-Power (The strength of the weapons ability to pierce, while still staying on target and maintaining speed.)

**These are the skills that I believe Genin should have at least basic knowledge, of half of these things at least, in by the time they graduate from the Academy in times of peace. In times of war they would put more emphasis on skill and power than the more subtle aspects of being a shinobi.**

**This chapter is now finished. Now,**

**Review Would You Kindly,**

**Draconias Over and Out.**


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